v15 


THE  MANUAL  ARTS 


BY 


CHARLES  A.  BENNETT,  B.  S. 

Editor  of  Industrial  Education  Magazine, 
Formerly  Professor  of  Manual  Arts,  Bradley  Polytechnic  Institute 


THE  MANUAL  ARTS  PRESS 
PEORIA,  ILLINOIS 


Copyright,  1917, 

CHARLES  A.  BENNETT, 

32B31 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


.. 
I    L  IT 

ix  q. 


COLLEOB 
CALIFORNIA 


PREFACE 


'l  AHE  greatest  present  problems  affecting  the 
-*•  manual  arts  in  education,  whether  that  educa- 
tion be  vocational  or  cultural  in  its  aim,  are  cen- 
tered around  the  selection  and  organization  of 
subject-matter  and  methods  of  teaching.  Believ- 
ing this  to  be  true,  the  author  contributes  the  fol- 
lowing chapters  to  the  discussion  of  these  prob- 
lems, hoping  that  they  may  be  of  some  service  to 
his  fellow  workers. 

Several  of  the  chapters  have  previously  ap- 
peared as  articles  in  magazines.  When  brought 
together,  however,  they  have  a  significance  which 
they  did  not  possess  as  isolated  articles  appearing 
from  time  to  time  over  a  period  of  several  years. 
Acknowledgment  for  permission  to  republish  is 
due  to  Education,  Educational  Review,  Vocational 
Education  and  Manual  Training  Magazine. 

CHAS.  A.  BENNETT. 

Peoria,  Illinois,  March  28,  1917. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I.    WHICH  OF  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 
SHALL  BE  TAUGHT  IN  THE  SCHOOLS? 11 

Manual  efficiency  of  our  forefathers.  Manual 
work  not  taught  in  school,  but  the  three  R's  taught 
for  their  practical  value.  The  expansion  of  educa- 
tion to  include  science,  engineering  and  history. 
Modern  living  and  business  conditions  compared 
with  those  of  our  grandfathers.  The  greater  use  of 
machinery.  Modern  home  conveniences  and  labor- 
saving  devices  require  a  more  general  knowledge  of 
the  principles  and  processes  of  industry.  Apprecia- 
tion of  industrial  products  and  ability  to  purchase 
intelligently  require  industrial  knowledge.  The 
school  must  teach  industry.  The  manual  arts 
classified  with  reference  to  subject-matter.  The 
graphic  arts  a  language.  Interdependence  of  the 
graphic  arts  and  constructive  arts.  The  mechanic 
arts.  Increasing  importance  of  the  plastic  arts. 
The  textile  arts.  The  peculiar  importance  of  the 
book-making  arts.  All  of  the  five  groups  of  manual 
arts  should  be  taught  in  the  schools. 

CHAPTER  II.    THE  PLACE  OF  THE  MANUAL 
ARTS  IN  EDUCATION 22 

The  dual  function  of  the  manual  arts  in  educa- 
tion. The  manual  arts  as  a  means  in  attaining  the 
end  in  education.  Ways  in  which  the  manual  arts 
contribute  to  social  efficiency.  The  manual  arts  as 

5 


6  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

a  factor  in  the  educative  process.  Importance  of 
experience.  The  manual  arts  regarded  as  both  sub- 
ject and  method.  The  place  of  the  manual  arts  in 
the  primary  grades;  in  the  grammar  grades;  in  the 
high  school.  Variety  of  materials,  processes,  ex- 
periences, and  little  technic  in  the  primary  grades. 
Good  technic,  the  formation  of  correct  habits, 
thoroness,  problems  of  industrial  value  in  grammar 
grades.  Vocational  purpose,  emphasis  on  processes 
that  are  fundamental,  industrial  standards  in  the 
high  school. 

CHAPTER  III.  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  AP- 
PRECIATION    35 

Results  of  manual  arts  instruction;  power  to  do, 
power  to  appreciate  what  others  do.  Conditions  of 
appreciation:  ability  to  produce,  ability  to  express, 
experience.  To  know  about  a  work  of  art  is  not 
sufficient  basis  for  appreciation.  Illustrations  from 
music.  Similar  illustrations  in  water-color  paint- 
ing, art  smithing,  hammered  copper.  Difference 
between  appreciation  of  the  thing  represented  and 
appreciation  of  the  art  employed  in  representation. 
Experience  essential.  Summary.  The  function  of 
the  public  schools  in  reference  to  teaching  appre- 
ciation. Public  school  curriculum  should  include 
fundamental  processes  of  the  five  manual  arts. 

CHAPTER  IV.  VOCATIONAL  TRAINING  :  To 
WHAT  EXTENT  JUSTIFIABLE  IN  PUBLIC 
SCHOOLS  46 

Educational  expenditure  in  business  enterprises. 
The  amount  of  such  expenditure  that  is  justifiable. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

Application  of  the  same  principle  to  public  educa- 
tion. Purpose  of  public  schools  fundamentally 
vocational.  Economic  value  of  education  not  suffi- 
ciently appreciated  in  America.  Emphasis  on  voca- 
tional elements  in  education  need  not  mean  sacrifice 
of  cultural  elements.  The  best  cultural  education 
may  come  thru  a  training  that  is  fundamentally 
vocational.  The  nation  is  justified  in  training 
specialists.  Origin  of  the  term  "Made  in  Ger- 
many. "  Motive  in  the  development  of  vocational 
education  in  Germany. 


CHAPTER  V.  THE  SELECTION  AND  ORGAN- 
IZATION OF  SUBJECT-MATTER  IN  THE 
MANUAL  ARTS  54 

No  need  of  sharp  line  of  demarkation  between 
vocational  training  and  cultural  training.  Voca- 
tional training  in  the  manual  arts  is  good  manual 
training  plus  the  factory  system.  Desirable  to 
select  subject-matter  having  present  industrial 
value.  Select  subject-matter  from  typical  common 
industries  rather  than  from  exceptional  or  un- 
common ones.  Statistics  concerning  industries. 
Selection  of  subject-matter  based  on  analysis  of 
industries.  Factories  recognize  the  importance  of 
analysis.  Different  kinds  of  analysis.  Importance 
of  selecting  typical  modern  industries  for  analysis. 
Group  analysis.  Each  group  to  contain  some  vital 
element  or  elements.  Groups  arranged  in  sequen- 
tial order. 


8  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

CHAPTER  VI.  THE  GROUP  METHOD  OF  OR- 
GANIZING SUBJECT-MATTER  IN  THE  MAN- 
UAL ARTS  WITH  REFERENCE  TO  TEACH- 
ING    68 

Original  purpose  of  the  group  method  to  har- 
monize class  and  individual  instruction.  Difficul- 
ties in  teaching  that  called  forth  the  group  method. 
Illustrations  of  these  difficulties.  A  course  of  in- 
struction under  the  group  method.  Class  instruc- 
tion. Individual  instruction.  The  group  method 
and  class  management.  No  two  pupils  work  the 
same  combination  of  problems.  A  parallel  found 
in  the  teaching  of  history.  Illustration  of  a  course. 
A  group  described.  Allows  for  varied  methods  of 
teaching  in  the  same  class.  Graph  of  accomplish- 
ment. Individual  differences  provided  for.  Indi- 
vidual development  combined  with  class  progress. 


CHAPTER  VII.    THE  USE  OF  THE  FACTORY 
SYSTEM  IN  TEACHING  THE  MANUAL  ARTS  85 

Turning  out  a  salable  product  is  not  sufficient 
guarantee  that  a  school  shop  is  giving  superior  in- 
struction; a  factory  does  that  and  makes  no  pretense 
at  being  an  educational  institution.  Large  factories 
are  teaching  their  apprentices  in  non-productive 
shops  organized  on  an  educational  basis.  Producing 
woodworking  factory  shop  at  Bradley  Institute.  Its 
equipment.  Disposing  of  the  products  of  the  fac- 
tory. Cost  system  introduced.  Shop  order  sheet, 
cost  sheet,  time  slip.  Course  of  instruction.  Groups 
A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  and  F.  Conclusions.  Value  of  a 
producing  factory  demonstrated  for  advanced  in- 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS  9 

struction;  non-producing  factory  better  for  early 
stages  of  shop  instruction.  Opinions  of  manufac- 
turers. 

CHAPTER  VIII.    THREE  TYPICAL  METHODS 
OF  TEACHING  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 103 

Three  typical  methods  described:  (i)  imitative, 
(2)  discovery,  (3)  inventive.  Utilization  of  the  in- 
stinct to  imitate.  Value  of  the  imitative  method  in 
teaching  technic,  in  guiding  habit  formation.  The 
control  of  imitation.  Claims  for  the  discovery 
method.  Emphasizes  individual  differences.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  pupils  will  imitate  each  other  if  not 
allowed  to  imitate  the  teacher.  Discovery  method 
uneconomical.  Effect  of  the  inventive  method 
compared  with  that  of  the  imitative.  Student's  re- 
lation to  his  work  in  the  inventive  method.  Sum- 
mary. All  three  methods  should  be  used  in  teaching 
the  manual  arts  in  public  schools. 

QUESTIONS   .  113 


CHAPTER  I. 

WHICH  OF  THE  MANUAL  ARTS  SHALL  BE 
TAUGHT  IN  THE  SCHOOLS? 

OUR  forefathers  came  to  this  country  civil- 
ized and  equipped  for  the  tasks  before 
them.  They  came  with  habits  of  worship  and 
reverence,  with  ideals  of  liberty  and  with  knowl- 
edge of  legal  procedure.  They  came  also  with 
manual  efficiency;  some  were  farmers;  others 
were  carpenters,  masons,  millers,  wheelwrights 
and  blacksmiths;  the  women  could  spin  and 
weave,  sew  and  cook,  clean  and  manage  a  house- 
hold. When  schools  were  established,  these 
were  to  train  men  to  become  lawyers,  statesmen 
and  preachers  of  the  gospel.  Schools  for  the 
manual  industries  were  not  needed  because 
everybody  worked  with  his  hands,  and  the  the- 
ories, recipes  and  traditions  of  the  crafts  were 
handed  down  from  father  to  son,  or  from  master 
to  apprentice.  The  common  schools  taught  all 
children  to  read  and  write  because  such  instruc- 
tion was  considered  a  necessary  safeguard  to 
the  democratic  form  of  government  which  was 
adopted.  Ability  to  cipher,  also,  was  considered 
desirable  for  all,  and  in  the  villages  and  towns 
it  soon  became  essential  because  it  had  to  do 
with  money  and  the  sale  of  merchandise. 


12  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

Decades  came  and  went  and  left  pioneers  still 
subduing  the  forest  lands  and  exterminating  the 
Indians.  Generations  passed;  cities  began  to 
spring  up  and  grow;  the  prairie  lands  of  the 
Central  States  began  to  yield  an  abundant  har- 
vest and  the  mines  to  give  up  their  rich  stores. 
Manual  labor,  joined  with  natural  resources, 
yielded  great  wealth.  But  during  all  this  time 
the  school  was  not  called  upon  to  train  in  manual 
industry.  The  school  had,  however,  greatly  in- 
creased its  facilities  for  training  for  citizenship 
and  the  professions;  academies,  colleges  and  pro- 
fessional schools  had  been  established  and  were 
rapidly  growing  into  great  universities;  and  the 
common  schools  had  been  multiplied  to  keep  pace 
with  the  expanding  frontier. 

Then  came  the  demand  for  men  trained  in 
science  and  engineering  to  build  railroads  and 
bridges,  canals  and  aqueducts,  engines,  ships  and 
machinery  of  all  kinds.  This  practical  demand  led 
to  the  establishment  of  schools  of  science  and  engi- 
neering, and  soon  the  science  studies  found  their 
way  into  the  curriculum  of  the  common  schools. 
The  growth  and  struggles  of  the  nation  demanded 
a  more  broadly  educated  citizenship,  and  historical 
studies  and  the  study  of  social  problems  also  found 
a  place  in  school  work. 

While  all  this  remarkable  development  has  been 
going  on  in  the  national  life  and  in  the  school,  the 


WHICH  OF  THE  MANUAL  ARTS  SHALL  BE  TAUGHT?      13 

mode  of  living  has  changed  as  rapidly.  The  simple 
life  of  the  earlier  days  has  given  way  to  the  many 
complexities  of  our  present  life.  Now  we  all  want 
modern  houses;  we  want  them  individual  in  design, 
finished  in  hard  woods,  heated  by  automatically 
regulated  furnaces,  supplied  with  an  abundance 
of  water,  gas,  electricity,  and  telephones  connect- 
ing us  with  our  neighbors  and  friends.  We  want 
artistic  draperies,  rugs  and  wall  coverings,  good 
furniture,  fine  pictures,  statuary  and  musical  instru- 
ments. If  we  compare  our  present  homes  with 
the  homes  of  our  grandfathers  when  we  were  chil- 
dren, we  realize  what  a  rapid  and  remarkable 
change  has  taken  place.  About  the  same  change 
has  taken  place  in  reference  to  our  food  and  cloth- 
ing. Instead  of  contenting  ourselves  with  what  can 
be  raised  in  our  own  garden  or  our  own  town,  we 
get  food  from  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  earth, 
and  by  rapid  transportation  we  have  largely  over- 
come the  limitations  of  season.  We  no  longer 
spin  and  weave  in  our  own  homes ;  knitting  by  hand 
is  almost  a  lost  art,  and  most  of  the  sewing  is  done 
"on  the  machine."  When  we  turn  from  the  home 
to  business  the  same  is  true.  The  farmer  who  is 
not  equipped  with  motive  power  and  machinery, 
can  hardly  expect  to  compete  in  the  market.  The 
ox  team  has  given  way  to  the  traction  engine,  the 
cradle  to  the  self-binding  reaper,  and  so  on 
thru  the  list.  This  is  equally  true  in  manufac- 
turing and  nearly  every  other  line  of  business. 


14  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

Things  are  being  done  at  greater  speed  and  in  a 
manner  that  requires  a  more  elaborate  equipment. 
All  this  development  has  immensely  increased 
the  output  demanded  of  the  producing  and  dis- 
tributing industries.  This  demand  in  turn  has 
increased  the  need  for  skilled  workmen.  Another 
factor  that  has  acted  with  this  need  is  the  internal 
development  in  the  industries  themselves,  which 
has  come  in  part  from  the  necessity  of  a  more  eco- 
nomical use  of  materials,  but  principally  from  the 
discoveries  of  science  and  their  application  to 
industry.  If  one  tries  to  enumerate  the  changes  in 
the  metal  industries  alone  that  have  followed  the 
application  of  electricity  in  the  telegraph,  the  tele- 
phone, the  electric  light,  and  electric  motors  he 
soon  sees  how  endless  is  the  undertaking.  A  very 
important  result  of  this  development  in  the  indus- 
tries is  the  need  of  men  with  a  wider  knowledge 
of  the  materials  and  processes  of  industry  and  the 
principles  upon  which  the  processes  and  the  use 
of  the  materials  rest.  This  knowledge  is  not  being 
handed  down  from  father  to  son  to  any  great 
extent,  nor  from  master  to  apprentice,  partly 
because  the  factory  system  does  not  easily  lend 
itself  to  education,  and  partly  because  the  knowl- 
edge needed  is  so  new  that  even  the  masters  them- 
selves find  it  difficult  to  keep  up  with  the  develop- 
ment. But  this  need  for  a  wider  knowledge  of  the 
principles  and  processes  of  industry  is  not  confined 
to  the  workers  in  these  producing  industries.  Every 


WHICH  OF  THE  MANUAL  ARTS  SHALL  BE  TAUGHT?      15 

man  who  would  intelligently  use  the  modern  con- 
veniences of  his  own  home,  or  the  labor-saving 
devices  and  conveniences  of  business  life,  must 
know  something  of  the  materials  and  principles  of 
industry;  and  if  he  is  to  have  any  adequate  appre- 
ciation of  the  product — if  he  is  to  judge  the  quality 
of  the  thing  he  purchases  or  uses,  he  must  know 
something  of  the  process  that  produced  it.  In 
fact,  industrial  development  has  been  so  rapid 
and  so  varied  in  our  country — it  has  affected  every 
man's  life  to  such  an  extent  that  if  he  is  to  retain 
sufficient  mastery  of  his  environment  to  make  it 
serve  his  needs,  he  is  forced  to  acquire  consider- 
able practical  knowledge  of  the  materials,  princi- 
ples and  processes  of  industry.  As  we  have 
already  seen,  this  knowledge  is  not  being  handed 
down  from  parent  to  child  in  any  adequate  way, 
and  so  we  look  to  the  school  to  furnish  it.  And 
if  the  school  is  to  furnish  it,  the  school  must  be 
equipped  with  the  tools  of  industry. 

Having  accepted  the  responsibility  for  giving 
instruction  in  the  industries,  the  school  finds  itself 
facing  a  long  series  of  problems  of  selection, 
organization  and  administration.  Most  of  these 
problems  are  still  unsolved,  tho  many  of  them 
are  being  solved. 

Perhaps  the  problem  of  first  importance  relates 
to  the  selection  of  subject-matter.  Which  of  the 
many  manual  arts  shall  be  taught?  Are  some 
more  fundamental  than  others?  How  can  the 


1 6  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

manual  arts  be  classified?  What  shall  be  the 
basis  of  our  choice  between  them?  These  ques- 
tions are  consciously  or  unconsciously  being 
answered  for  individual  schools,  but  too  often 
without  a  sufficiently  broad  view  of  the  needs  and 
the  possibilities.  To  find  adequate  answers  one 
must  survey  the  whole  field  of  the  manual  arts 
as  applied  to  industry;  he  must  search  out  a  basis 
for  classification;  then  he  must  select  fundamental 
processes  in  each  class.  Perhaps  no  better  classi- 
fication has  been  suggested  than  the  following: 

(a}  the  graphic  arts. 

(b)  the  mechanic  arts. 

(c)  the  plastic  arts. 

(d)  the  textile  arts. 

(e)  the  book-making  arts. 

These  five  should  be  found  in  every  course  in  the 
manual  arts  which  extends  thru  the  elementary 
school  period,  and  if  cooking  is  more  art  than 
science,  the  culinary  arts  should  form  a  sixth  class. 
The  graphic  arts  were  the  first  to  be  given  a 
place  in  school  work.  These  include  all  forms  of 
drawing,  both  freehand  and  mechanical.  The 
industries  they  represent  are  numerous — architec- 
tural and  machine  drafting,  all  forms  of  engineer- 
ing drawing,  designing  for  a  variety  of  industries, 
and  illustrating  for  newspapers,  magazines  and 
books.  The  increasing  importance  of  these  arts 
is  apparent  to  everyone  who  gives  the  matter 


WHICH  OF  THE  MANUAL  ARTS  SHALL  BE  TAUGHT?      17 

thought,  and  the  more  one  gives  it  thought,  the 
more  firmly  convinced  does  he  become  that  there 
is  great  need  of  revising  many  of  our  school 
courses  in  drawing  so  that  they  will  be  in  harmony 
with  the  needs  of  the  industries.  Courses  may  be 
made  far  more  practical  than  they  are  at  the  pres- 
ent time  without  being  less  cultural,  and  the  more 
they  harmonize  with  the  best  industrial  practice 
in  these  arts,  the  more  highly  will  they  be  valued 
by  the  community.  Too  often  the  drawing  work 
has  been  a  blind  struggle  for  self-expression,  when 
good  representation  would  have  been  far  better. 
Drawing  is  a  language,  and  as  such,  a  considerable 
knowledge  of  its  symbols  and  forms  must  precede 
effective  expression,  especially  in  grades  above 
the  primary  school.  The  fact  that  the  graphic 
arts  do  serve  as  a  language,  transmitting  thought 
concerning  form  and  relative  size,  direction  and 
curvature,  tone  and  color,  gives  them  a  unique  and 
important  place  in  their  relation  to  the  other  man- 
ual arts.  For  this  reason,  then,  the  graphic  arts 
are  fundamental,  and  rightly  deserve  first  place  in 
any  course  of  instruction  in  the  manual  arts. 

But  just  as  power  to  write  good  English  is 
of  comparatively  little  value  without  thoughts  to 
express,  so  the  graphic  arts  are  robbed  of  half 
their  value  if  not  accompanied  by  some  of  the 
other  manual  arts.  Mechanical  drawing,  for 
example,  becomes  too  theoretical  and  often  almost 
useless  when  not  accompanied  by  woodworking 


1 8  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

and  metalworking.  Design,  as  we  have  been  told 
so  many  times  during  the  past  few  years,  and  are 
now  just  coming  to  believe,  can  be  taught  at  its 
best  only  when  associated  with  work  in  the  mate- 
rial into  which  the  design  is  to  be  wrought.  The 
use  of  the  object  suggests  the  form;  this  is  modified 
by  the  materials;  both  form  and  materials,  to- 
gether with  the  tools,  limit  the  design,  and  often 
suggest  it.  If  necessary,  other  examples  could  be 
given  to  show  the  dependence  of  the  graphic  arts 
upon  the  constructive  arts.  Without  the  graphic 
arts  the  constructive  arts  have  no  means  of  com- 
munication, no  language;  they  are  dumb.  With- 
out the  constructive  arts  the  graphic  arts  are  lack- 
ing in  content,  in  thought,  in  application.  The 
interdependence  is  thus  apparent. 

Of  these  constructive  arts  the  mechanic  arts 
have  been  most  prominent  in  the  minds  of  advo- 
cates of  manual  training.  This  is  chiefly  due  to 
the  fact  that  they  deal  especially  with  the  two 
great  constructive  materials  of  our  civilization — 
wood  and  metal.  Not  only  the  building  and  ma- 
chine industries,  but  most  manufacturing  and 
engineering  enterprises — ships,  railways,  private 
vehicles,  home  furnishings  and  conveniences  de- 
pend upon  the  skillful  use  of  these  two  materials. 
The  mechanic  arts  therefore  appropriately  head 
the  list  of  constructive  arts. 

In  marked  contrast  with  the  mechanic  arts,  yet 
in  many  ways  associated  with  them,  are  the  plastic 


WHICH  OF  THE  MANUAL  ARTS  SHALL  BE  TAUGHT?      19 

arts.  These  include  brick  and  tile  making,  con- 
crete construction,  pottery,  terra  cotta  and  model- 
ing. These  arts  at  present  find  their  best  school 
counterpart  in  clay-work.  Year  by  year  the  indus- 
tries involving  the  plastic  arts  are  becoming  more 
and  more  important.  The  exploitation  of  our 
forests  is  making  recourse  to  the  clay  bank  a 
necessity  in  building.  Demonstration  of  the  possi- 
bilities of  reinforced  concrete  construction  is  plac- 
ing sand  and  cement  in  competition  with  steel.  As 
the  cities  grow  in  size  calling  for  more  large 
buildings,  the  demand  for  ornamental  tiles  and 
terra  cotta  increases,  and  under  similar  circum- 
stances there  is  an  increased  demand  upon  the 
plastic  arts  for  the  decoration  of  the  interiors  of 
buildings.  From  the  standpoint  of  industry,  then, 
the  plastic  arts  constitute  an  important  division  of 
the  manual  arts,  and  from  the  school  standpoint 
clay-work  is  one  of  the  very  best  means  of  train- 
ing; it  is  form  study  work  par  excellence. 

The  fourth  group  of  arts  is  the  textile  arts. 
This  includes  spinning,  weaving,  braiding,  dyeing, 
basketry,  knitting,  sewing,  embroidery,  garment 
making — a  large  number  of  processes  fundamental 
in  our  civilization.  No  further  discussion  of  these 
is  necessary;  their  vital  importance  is  apparent. 

The  fifth  group  consists  of  the  book-making  arts 
— printing,  engraving,  lettering,  leather  tooling, 
bookbinding  and  construction  work  with  paper, 
cardboard  and  paste.  While  these  arts  are  not 


20  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

as  fundamental  to  man's  existence  as  the  fourth 
group,  which  provides  his  clothing,  and  the  second 
and  third,  which  provide  his  shelter,  they  do  pro- 
vide his  chief  means  of  storing  up  thought  and 
transmitting  it  from  one  man  to  another  and  from 
generation  to  generation.  This  group  of  arts, 
then,  is  essential  to  progress  if  not  to  existence, 
and  to  that  extent  it  is  fundamental.  From  the 
school  standpoint  this  group  is  one  of  especial 
value  because  it  relates  so  readily  to  other  school 
work;  many  of  its  processes  are  simple,  requiring 
but  little  equipment  and  only  such  materials  as  are 
readily  obtainable. 

To  these  five  may  be  added  the  culinary  arts; 
yet  for  some  reasons  the  preparation  of  foods  is 
more  fittingly  classified  among  the  sciences  than 
among  the  arts.  Undoubtedly  it  is  both  a  science 
and  an  art,  and  whether  it  is  more  one  than  the 
other  is  of  no  importance  here.  The  essential 
point  is  that  food-work  is  fundamental  to  civiliza- 
tion, and  should  have  a  place  among  the  other 
manual  arts  in  the  school. 

No  school  system  should  be  satisfied  with 
teaching  only  one  or  two  of  the  manual  arts;  some 
practical  experience  in  all  of  them  is  necessary  to 
prepare  for  the  enjoyment  of  modern  home  and 
industrial  conditions,  and  essential  to  an  adequate 
appreciation  of  the  arts  of  modern  life. 

The  public  school  has  a  noble  record  and  should 
not  be  diverted  from  its  traditional  purpose,  which 


WHICH  OF  THE  MANUAL  ARTS  SHALL  BE  TAUGHT?     21 

manifestly  is  to  round  out  preparation  for  living, 
not  in  the  remote  or  the  near  past,  but  to-day,  in 
modern  surroundings.  Thomas  Davidson  has 
said  that  education  "has  grown  with  the  growth 
of  practical  intelligence,  and  has  been  in  all  cases 
a  preparation  for  life  under  existing  institutions." 
It  is  the  schoolman's  duty  to  analyze  present  con- 
ditions, determining  what  constitutes  a  prepara- 
tion for  adequate  living,  and  then  shape  the  work 
of  his  school  accordingly. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  PLACE  OF  THE  MANUAL  ARTS  IN 
EDUCATION. 

A  S  the  field  of  school  education  broadens,  its 
**  aims  and  methods  become  more  varied  and 
complex,  and  often  confused.  This  is  certainly 
the  case  today  in  that  department  of  education 
which  deals  with  the  manual  arts.  The  motives 
for  the  introduction  of  these  arts  have  come  to 
be  so  varied  that  to  think  clearly  concerning  this 
phase  of  school  work  is  very  difficult.  This  is 
perhaps  fundamentally  due  to  -changing  social 
ideals  and  consequent  demands,  but  it  is  partly 
due  to  a  failure  of  educators  to  recognize  that  the 
manual  arts  function  in  school  education  both  in 
.•attaining  the  end  of  education  and  in  facilitating 
the  educative  process.  The  teacher  needs  to  keep 
in  mind  this  dual  capacity  which  the  manual  arts 
possess  as  a  means  in  education. 

This  duality  of  function  is  not  peculiar  to  the 
manual  arts.  It  is  equally  true  of  the  natural 
sciences,  and  many  have  been  the  pedagogical 
battles  fought  out  in  that  field  in  times  past.  One 
can  readily  recall  the  time  when  the  science  teach- 
ers were  dwelling  in  two  camps,  one  emphasizing 
the  facts  of  science  and  the  other  the  method.  It 


THE  PLACE  OF  MANUAL  ARTS  IN  EDUCATION          23 

would  seem,  therefore,  that  the  arts  might  have 
profited  by  the  experience  of  the  sciences,  but  in 
much  of  the  discussion  during  the  past  fifteen 
years,  this  surely  has  not  been  the  case  and  is  not 
today.  One  man  looks  upon  the  manual  arts  as 
a  body  of  subject-matter  to  be  taught  as  he  would 
teach  the  facts  of  history;  another  insists  that  the 
manual  arts  must  be  regarded  as  a  fundamental 
method  of  education,  and  claims  to  care  little  or 
nothing  for  the  subject-matter  involved  in  this 
method.  The  place,  therefore,  of  the  manual  arts 
in  the  one  case  is  quite  different  from  that  in  the 
other.  One  leads  chiefly  to  a  mastery  of  the  ma- 
terials and  the  manual  processes  of  industry,  the 
other  to  a  new  motive  and  means  of  expression  in 
teaching  other  subjects.  The  man  whose  vision 
penetrates  deep  enough  sees  that  the  big  truth 
concerning  the  manual  arts  includes  both  of  these, 
and  that  instead  of  being  in  conflict,  they  are  really 
in  harmony.  When  this  viewpoint  has  been  gained, 
a  most  fundamental  step  has  been  taken  toward 
finding  the  place  of  the  manual  arts  in  education. 

In  discussing  this  larger  view,  four  propositions 
may  be  considered: 

/.  In  so  far  as  the  end  in  education  can  be 
attained  more  readily  through  the  employment  of 
the  manual  arts,  these  arts  should  have  a  place  in 
education. 

The  end  of  education  changes  from  age  to  age 
as  civilization  advances,  and  should  be  in  harmony 


24  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

with  the  ideals  and  institutions  of  the  time.  At 
the  present  time  no  end  seems  so  much  in  harmony 
with  needs  and  the  highest  ideals  as  that  of  social 
efficiency  in  the  individual.  In  its  broad  interpre- 
tation, this  term  seems  to  summarize  all  other 
worthy  aims,  and  points  toward  a  goal  not  yet 
reached.  Taking  for  granted,  then,  that  the  ulti- 
mate end  of  education  is  social  efficiency  in  the 
individual,  the  manual  arts  should  have  a  place  in 
school  education  corresponding  to  their  effective- 
ness in  helping  men  to  become  socially  efficient. 

As  social  efficiency  in  the  individual  means  first 
of  all  that  each  individual  must  be  directly  or  indi- 
rectly a  productive  member  of  society,  the  arts 
must  answer  the  demand  of  productivity.  To  be 
productive  a  man  must  at  least  "pull  his  own 
weight."  He  may  do  so  either  "directly  as  a 
productive  agent,  or  indirectly  by  guiding,  inspir- 
ing, or  educating  others  to  productive  effort."1 

As  productivity  in  the  great  majority  of  individ- 
uals is  the  direct  result  of  the  intelligent  and  skill- 
ful use  of  the  hands,  it  follows  that  training  in  the 
manual  arts,  which  more  than  any  other  division 
of  school  work  develops  such  use  of  the  hands, 
should  be  given  a  place  sufficiently  large  to  allow 
such  training  to  be  effective.  Until  sufficient  time 
is  allowed  in  the  school  program  for  manual  arts, 
no  one  should  expect  large  results  from  them. 
With  a  time  allowance  which  will  require  as  much 
iBagley:  The  Educative  Process. 


THE  PLACE  OF  MANUAL  ARTS  IN  EDUCATION         25 

of  the  pupil's  effort  as  is  given  to  the  other  funda- 
mental studies,  both  inside  and  outside  the  school, 
the  manual  arts  will  yield  results  which  count 
large  on  the  side  of  productivity. 

The  manual  arts  contribute  to  social  efficiency 
in  several  ways.  They  not  only  give  vocational 
power,  contributing  largely  to  ability  to  earn  a 
livelihood,  but  they  impart  first-hand  knowledge  of 
the  material  accessories  of  modern  life.  Every 
man's  effectiveness  and  happiness  is  dependent  in 
some  measure — sometimes  in  large  measure — 
upon  the  ease  and  intelligence  with  which  he  util- 
izes the  modern  conveniences  in  his  own  home  or 
the  material  devices  which  make  for  economy  and 
efficiency  in  business  life.  Moreover,  the  manual 
arts  develop  appreciation  of  beauty  in  its  relation 
to  material  form,  color,  tone,  and  texture,  which 
is  an  element  not  only  in  esthetic  enjoyment  but  in 
general  efficiency  and  productivity.  And,  further, 
the  manual  arts  provide  a  means  in  addition  to 
written  language,  of  transmitting  from  generation 
to  generation  and  age  to  age,  some  of  the  choicest 
thoughts  and  feelings  of  man.  Since  the  manual 
arts  contribute  so  largely  to  social  efficiency,  and 
social  efficiency  is  the  end  sought  in  education,  the 
manual  arts  deserve  a  place  in  school  work. 

2.  In  so  far  as  the  educative  -process  can  be 
accelerated  and  made  more  thoro  thru  the  em- 
ployment of  the  manual  arts,  these  arts  should 
have  a  place  in  education. 


a6  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

The  educative  process  is  one  of  gaining  ex- 
perience either  directly,  or  indirectly,  thru  other 
persons  or  their  records  in  books  or  works.  In 
this  process  of  gaining  experience,  the  value  and 
effectiveness  of  indirect  experience  is  dependent 
to  a  very  large  extent  upon  related  direct  experi- 
ence. There  is  no  substitute  for  such  of  these 
direct  experiences  as  are  fundamental,  and  the 
greater  the  number,  the  greater  will  be  "the  mass 
of  apperceiving  ideas,"  tho  after  some  funda- 
mental direct  experiences  have  been  gained,  it  is 
often  economy  to  make  use  of  indirect  experiences. 
To  gain  the  fundamental  direct  experience  at  the 
time  when  needed  and  in  the  right  relation  to  asso- 
ciated indirect  experience  is  most  desirable.  To 
bring  this  about  is  largely  the  work  of  the  school, 
and  therefore  the  school  must  have  the  necessary 
means  at  hand. 

Applied  to  the  manual  arts,  this  indicates  that 
if  these  arts  are  to  be  effectively  taught  in  the 
school,  or  if  real  appreciation  of  these  arts  is  to 
be  developed,  first-hand  experience  must  be  gained 
in  them  in  the  school.  It  is  folly  to  try  to  teach 
a  girl  to  appreciate  needlework  without  giving  her 
needle  and  thread  and  cloth  and  teaching  her  to 
sew,  but  after  she  has  learned  the  fundamentals 
of  sewing  this  knowledge  will  serve  as  a  basis  for 
the  appreciation  of  results  in  needlework  quite 
beyond  her  skill  to  produce,  and  wholly  beyond 
her  ability  to  appreciate  before  she  had  learned 


THE  PLACE  OF  MANUAL  ARTS  IN  EDUCATION         27 

the  fundamentals  of  needlecraft.  Moreover,  many 
of  the  other  subjects  of  the  school  curriculum — 
certainly  of  the  elementary  school — are  naturally 
so  interwoven  in  the  manual  arts  and  find  practi- 
cal application  so  widely  thru  them,  that  direct 
experience  in  these  arts  provides  a  motive,  a  need, 
recognizable  by  the  child,  which  is  at  the  basis 
of  many  of  our  modern  methods  of  teaching.  A 
child  wants  to  make  a  picture  book.  In  making  it 
he  must  measure  and  he  must  divide;  he  should 
also  increase  his  practical  vocabulary;  in  addition 
to  these  he  may  learn  something  of  the  early  his- 
tory of  books  and  of  the  source  of  paper  and 
strawboard  and  cloth  and  paste ;  he  may  then  col- 
lect pictures  and  learn  something  of  the  lives  of 
the  men  who  painted  them  and  the  thoughts  and 
feelings  they  desired  to  express  thru  them.  Thus 
the  manual  arts  serve  as  a  method  or  means  of 
teaching  other  subjects,  and  so  contribute  an  ele- 
ment of  value  in  the  educative  process. 

5.  If  the  place  of  the  manual  arts  in  education 
depends  upon  their  service  in  attaining  the  end  of 
education  and  their  value  in  the  educative  process, 
then  they  should  be  regarded  as  both  subject  and 
method. 

The  history  of  handwork  in  education  reveals 
two  traceable  tendencies  concerning  the  place  of 
the  manual  arts  which  have  been  more  or  less  in 
conflict.  One  has  been  to  regard  these  arts  as 
a  subject  and  the  other  as  a  method. 


a8  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

Dr.  Pabst  of  Leipsic  has  pointed  out1  that 
Heusinger  believed  that  the  impulse  to  activity 
should  be  used  to  lead  man  to  avenues  of  knowl- 
edge which  otherwise  would  remain  closed  to  him. 
Froebel  emphasized  and  developed  this  idea  and 
placed  handwork  at  the  very  center  of  the  curricu- 
lum. Herbart,  on  the  contrary,  and  many  of  his 
followers,  use  handwork  as  a  means  of  teaching 
the  other  school  subjects,  and  make  handwork 
dependent  upon  the  other  branches  of  instruction 
for  its  problems.  Salomon  in  Sweden,  Goetze  in 
Germany,  and  most  of  the  early  leaders  of  manual 
training  in  England  and  in  this  country  regarded 
their  work  as  a  subject  co-ordinate  with  other  sub- 
jects in  the  curriculum,  while  Colonel  Parker  and 
several  child-study  specialists  in  this  country  and 
in  England  have  given  marked  emphasis  to  hand- 
work as  a  method  in  education;  and  much  of 
the  literature  of  the  subject  of  a  few  years  ago 
was  written  from  the  viewpoint  of  these  men. 
During  the  past  few  years,  with  the  advent  of  the 
movement  toward  industrial  education,  there  has 
been  a  growing  tendency  again  to  give  emphasis 
to  the  manual  arts  because  of  their  content  value, 
but,  let  it  be  hoped,  without  forgetting  their 
process  value. 

Today  it  seems  clear  that  the  manual  arts  in 
education  should  function  both  as  subject  and 

\Handwork  Instruction  for  "Boys,  translated  by  Bertha 
Reed  Coffman. 


THE  PLACE  OF  MANUAL  ARTS  IN  EDUCATION          29 

method.  The  advocate  of  either  view  by  itself 
seems  not  to  present  the  whole  truth.  To  contend 
that  in  order  to  have  educative  value,  work  in  the 
manual  arts  must  smack  of  a  trade,  or  to  look 
upon  these  arts  in  the  school  as  merely  producing 
certain  specified  material  forms  in  clay  or  wood 
or  metal,  without  reference  to  how  they  are  pro- 
duced; or  again,  to  think  of  the  manual  arts  as 
merely  a  body  of  facts  to  be  learned  about  materi- 
als, tools,  forms,  colors,  and  processes,  is  to  fail 
to  get  an  adequate  idea  of  the  place  of  the  manual 
arts  in  education.  On  the  other  hand,  to  insist, 
as  some  have  done,  that  the  function  of  the  manual 
arts  is  to  provide  a  concrete  method  of  teaching 
other  school  subjects,  or  to  supply  a  motive  or 
need  which  will  admit  of  a  better  method  of  teach- 
ing the  other  subjects,  is  to  reveal  an  equally  inade- 
quate conception  of  the  function  of  the  manual 
arts  in  education.  Only  thru  the  unification 
of  these  two  views  of  the  manual  arts,  regarding 
them  as  possessing  at  once  the  characteristics  of 
both  subject  and  method,  can  we  hope  to  get  the 
true  and  adequate  conception  which  will  be  a  safe 
guide  in  organizing  manual  arts  work  in  the 
school. 

4.  Considering  the  place  of  the  manual  arts  in 
education  as  dependent  upon  the  aim  of  education 
and  the  needs  of  the  educative  process,  and  regard- 
ing these  arts  as  both  subject  and  method,  the  place 
which  they  should  occupy  in  the  work  of  any  sec- 


3O  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

tion  of  the  school,  as  primary,  grammar,  or  high, 
can  be  determined  by  discovering  the  specific  end 
sought  in  that  section  and  the  special  needs  of  the 
educative  process  with  reference  to  the  manual 
arts  in  the  particular  stage  of  child  development 
represented  by  the  section. 

In  considering  the  primary  grades  it  may  be 
assumed  that  it  is  clear  to  every  one  that  so  far 
as  fhe  manual  arts  are  concerned,  the  end  of  social 
efficiency  in  the  individual  is  better  served  by  lay- 
ing a  broad  foundation  of  first-hand  experience 
than  by  taking  him  thru  any  narrow  course  of 
more  specific  technical  training.  It  has  been  proven 
that  if  sufficient  time  be  given  to  basketry  for  sev- 
eral years,  American  primary  school  children  can 
make  most  remarkable  baskets,  some  of  them 
almost  rivaling  the  work  of  the  aborigines  them- 
selves in  fineness  and  technic.  But  it  is  hardly 
the  function  of  the  primary  school  to  train  expert 
basket  makers,  and  it  would  be  difficult,  on  any 
other  ground,  to  justify  such  a  narrow  course  of 
training  in  handwork.  It  would  be  far  better  to 
give  the  young  child  experience  in  a  large  variety 
of  materials  and  processes,  not  so  much  to  teach 
technic  as  to  stimulate  and  guide  his  natural  con- 
structive activity,  and  to  utilize  the  great  oppor- 
tunity that  presents  itself  at  this  age  for  expres- 
sion, more  or  less  free,  thru  concrete  material. 
In  fact,  in  these  grades  the  manual  arts  should  be 
regarded  as  a  method  far  more  than  a  subject. 


THE  PLACE  OF  MANUAL  ARTS  IN  EDUCATION         31 

Let  them  serve  every  other  subject  or  embryo- 
subject  in  every  natural  and  reasonable  way.  In- 
stead of  limiting  the  child  in  this  work  to  paper 
and  raffia,  or  clay  and  cloth,  or  wood  and  wire, 
give  him  all  of  these  and  more.  Cultivate  in  him 
the  habit  of  observing  how  things  are  made,  of 
expressing  ideas  in  concrete  form,  of  constructing 
well  enough  to  serve  a  purpose  which  he  under- 
stands, and  of  doing  it  all  so  neatly  and  in  such 
good  form  and  color  that  it  is  pleasing  to  his 
gradually  more  discriminating  eye.  Stimulate  in 
him  that  real  joy  and  wonder  at  the  possibilities 
of  construction  with  his  own  hands,  which  the 
little  kindergarten  boy  felt  when  in  great  enthusi- 
asm he  said,  "Isn't  it  fine  to  see  how  one  thing 
busts  into  another  without  breaking."  The  aim, 
then,  in  the  primary  grades  should  be  to  utilize 
the  manual  arts  in  giving  the  child  an  opportunity 
to  gain  a  wide  range  of  direct  and  useful  experi- 
ence with  constructive  materials  and  processes, 
without  very  much  reference  to  technic. 
t  In  the  early  grammar  grades  the  emphasis 
begins  to  shift  toward  the  manual  arts  as  a  sub- 
ject, and  in  the  upper  grammar  grades,  technic  is 
as  essential  as  was  freedom  from  technic  in  the 
lower  primary  grades.  Physically  and  mentally 
the  child  is  now  ready  to  form  very  definite  habits 
in  the  use  of  his  hands.  In  fact,  he  will  form  them 
whether  we  wish  him  to  or  not,  and  it  is  therefore 
essential  that  we  see  that  the  right  ones  instead 


32  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

of  the  wrong  ones  are  formed.  If  he  uses  a  tool, 
he  should  be  taught  to  use  it  in  the  right  way. 
Otherwise  he  may  have  to  go  thru  the  expen- 
sive process  of  inhibiting  a  bad  habit  and  acquiring 
a  good  one  in  its  place.  When  such  bad  habits 
are  multiplied  they  become  discouraging  and 
well-nigh  impossible  to  unlearn;  hence  the  justice 
of  the  criticism  of  some  work  for  pupils  of  this 
age  that  has  passed  under  the  name  of  manual 
training,  but  fails  to  possess  the  first  fundamentals 
of  real  manual  training. 

This  emphasis  on  technic  does  not  lessen  the 
interest  of  the  child  in  his  work;  on  the  contrary, 
it  deepens  it  and  renders  it  more  permanent. 
Moreover,  emphasis  on  technic  does  not  mean 
returning  to  the  rigid  systems  of  models  imported 
many  years  ago  from  Europe;  neither  does  it 
mean  adopting  the  factory  system  in  all  our  gram- 
mar schools.  It  does  mean  thoroness  where  too 
often  there  is  lack  of  it,  and  it  does  mean  teaching 
a  technical  process  in  harmony  with  recognized 
technical  standards. 

All  this  does  not  interfere  with  the  manual  arts 
in  these  grades  being  of  value  as  a  method  in 
teaching  other  subjects,  but  it  does  mean  that  the 
work  during  this  period  contributes  to  social  effi- 
ciency, the  end  of  education,  more  distinctly  and 
definitely  than  it  does  to  the  educative  process.  A 
lack  of  clearness  of  conception  concerning  this 
point  has  caused  much  confusion  among  teachers. 


THE  PLACE  OF  MANUAL  ARTS  IN  EDUCATION         33 

The  present  demand  for  industrial  education,  if 
rightly  interpreted  and  conservatively  heeded,  may 
bring  us  to  our  pedagogical  senses  in  this  matter. 
If  all  our  art  and  manual  training  work  of  the 
upper  grammar  grades  were  more  thoroly  done, 
more  technical  in  character,  more  in  harmony  with 
the  industries  of  adults — were  more  definitely  a 
serious  subject — and  if  it  were  given  sufficient  time 
in  the  school  program  to  become  really  effective, 
we  would  hear  less  complaint  about  the  defects  of 
the  school  system. 

Sufficient  time  is  essential.  What  could  an 
eighth  grade  teacher  do  in  teaching  United  States 
history  if  her  pupils  spent  no  time  outside  of  the 
recitation  period  in  the  preparation  of  their  lesson 
and  were  to  recite  but  once  a  week — thirty-six 
hours  a  year?  What  practical  results  could  she 
expect?  And  yet  that  is  what  some  schools  are 
doing  in  the  manual  arts  and  are  looking  for  prac- 
tical results.  It  is  impossible.  A  few  are  giving 
from  three  to  five  hours  a  week  and  are  beginning 
to  get  results.  This  amount  should  be  further 
increased. 

In  the  high  school  the  manual  arts  have  become 
differentiated  into  special  subjects,  as  dressmaking, 
wood-turning,  forging,  machine  drawing,  etc.  As 
a  method  in  education  they  are  still  valuable,  but 
it  is  the  educational  end  they  serve  far  more  than 
any  value  in  the  educative  process  that  gives  them 
their  place  in  the  curriculum.  The  end  sought  may 


34  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

be  vocational  or  general,  but  in  either  case  the 
arts  taught  should  be  so  correct  in  technic,  should 
place  such  emphasis  on  processes  that  are  funda- 
mental, should  be  so  in  harmony  with  the  cor- 
responding industry  that  they  will  have  distinct 
vocational  value  as  far  as  they  go. 

Possibly  they  may  go  far  enough  in  the  high 
school  or  even  in  the  grammar  school  to  give  to 
selected  groups  of  students  all  that  any  school  can 
give  toward  a  trade  or  occupation,  but  whether 
the  manual  arts  aim  for  immediate  vocational 
results  or  not,  the  technical  standard  should  be  the 
same. 

The  place  of  the  manual  arts  in  school  educa- 
tion, then,  is  that  of  both  subject  and  method.  As 
method,  it  is  most  effective  in  the_^imary  grades. 
As  a  subject,  it  grows  more  and|Bbre  ^important 
as  the  grades  advance,  and  becomes  a  highly  spe- 
cialized subject  or  group  of  subjects  in  the  high 
school.  A  full  recognition  of  these  two  aspects 
of  the  manual  arts,  and  what  naturally  follows 
as  a  result,  should  be  a  help  to  every  teacher  and 
school  superintendent  in  organizing  his  course  of 
instruction. 


CHAPTER  III. 
THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  APPRECIATION. 

'  I  AWO  of  the  direct  results  of  instruction  in  the 
A  manual  arts  are,  first,  power  to  do,  and,  sec- 
ond, ability  to  appreciate  what  is  done  by  others. 
Both  of  these  results  must  be  embodied  in  the  aim 
of  the  teacher  who  would  wisely  guide  his  pupils 
in  work  in  the  manual  arts.  Emphasis  is  rightly 
placed  on  the  first,  but  the  second  deserves  more 
thought  than  it  usually  receives. 

Froebel  tells  us  that  "man  only  understands 
thoroly  that  which  he  is  able  to  produce."  Accept- 
ing this  stateJftnt  as  fact,  we  see  that  it  is  only 
thru  mastery^f  processes,  tools  and  materials, 
color,  form  and  values,  laws  of  construction  and 
harmony,  that  we  can  completely  understand  any 
masterpiece  of  art  or  handicraft.  And  we  know 
from  experience  that  such  mastery  is  exceedingly 
difficult  to  acquire. 

William  M.  Hunt  in  his  "Talks  on  Art"  *  has 
given  emphasis  to  the  same  fact  when  he  says,  "I 
flatter  myself  that  I  know  and  feel  more  than  I 
express  on  canvas;  but  I  know  that  it  is  not  so." 
Here  is  the  point  of  view  of  complete  mastery  of 
materials  and  processes.  If  one  becomes  a  master 
1First  Series,  page  5. 


36  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

of  brush  and  pigment,  he  can  express  his  thought 
and  feeling  thru  painting,  and  it  is  only  thru  such 
power  of  expression  that  one  comes  to  know  the 
thought  and  feeling  expressed  by  other  painters — 
to  fully  appreciate  a  great  work  in  painting.  But 
here  again  we  who  would  appreciate  art  and  handi- 
craft find  that  it  takes  a  lifetime  to  gain  the 
mastery  of  even  the  painter's  art;  and  when  we 
think  of  sculpture  and  metalwork,  cabinet-making, 
textiles,  jewelry,  the  building  of  a  cathedral,  a 
great  bridge  or  machine,  we  realize  how  impossi- 
ble it  is  to  fully  appreciate  work  in  all  these  arts 
and  crafts.  With  our  human  limitations,  the  span 
of  a  single  life  is  not  long  enough  to  include  so 
much,  yet  we  desire  the  power  to  appreciate  the 
good  in  the  arts  and  to  help  others  to  do  the  same. 
So  we  are  led  to  try  another  and  easier  course. 
We  throw  aside  the  philosophy  of  Froebel  and 
seek  to  store  our  minds  with  facts  about  the  arts, 
in  the  hope  that  by  this  means  we  may  reach  our 
goal  of  appreciation.  We  search  the  latest  books 
and  magazines.  We  read  what  Mr.  A.  says  of 
the  opinion  expressed  by  Mr.  B.  concerning  the 
work  of  Mr.  C.  We  find  that  Mr.  D.  does  not 
agree  with  either  Mr.  A.  or  Mr.  B.  on  several 
important  points,  and  we  take  little  satisfaction  in 
knowing  their  combined  opinions.  When  we  are 
honest  with  ourselves  we  admit  that  we  do  not 
appreciate  the  real  thing  they  are  writing  about. 
Like  the  young  clerk  in  the  draperies  department 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  APPRECIATION  37 

of  a  downtown  store,  we  can  talk  "arts  and  crafts 
style"  or  we  can  discuss  the  report  of  the  latest  ex- 
hibition, and  quote  good  authorities  too,  but  we 
are  conscious  of  the  fact  that  this  is  not  apprecia- 
tion. We  know  that  appreciation  involves  feeling, 
and  this  newspaper  reading  has  begotten  no  art 
feeling  in  us.  We  would  not  only  know  about  art, 
but  we  would  feel — we  would  respond  to  the  influ- 
ence of  the  art;  we  would  have  the  artist's  emo- 
tions transmitted  to  us,  and  this  we  find  does  not 
come  about  thru  the  medium  of  words  merely.  We 
must  see  and  touch  and  do ;  we  must  get  our  knowl- 
edge first-hand;  we  must  learn  thru  experience.  In 
learning  about  the  art  we  have  avoided  the  thing 
itself.  As  Dr.  Munsterberg  points  out  \  we  have 
taken  the  scientist's  attitude  instead  of  the  artist's 
— "The  scientist  explains,  where  the  artist 
appreciates." 

This  brings  us  to  our  problem:  If  we  cannot 
learn  to  appreciate  the  arts  by  reading  books  and 
magazines,  and  if  life  is  not  long  enough  to  allow 
us  to  secure  the  mastery  of  all  the  arts  we  would 
appreciate,  what  are  we  to  do?  Is  there  not  a 
median  course  open  to  us?  For  our  purposes,  can 
we  not  combine  the  scientist's  explanation  with 
the  artist's  appreciation?  Would  not  such  a 
course  be  in  harmony  with  the  aim  of  the  public 
school?  If  so,  is  it  possible,  and  what  does  it  in- 
rolve  ? 

lThe  Principles  of  Art  Educationy  page  28. 


38  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

Perhaps  we  may  get  a  suggestive  illustration 
from  music:  We  would  appreciate  the  oratorio. 
We  read  of  the  origin  and  early  form  of  the 
oratorio  and  its  identity  with  the  opera.  We  read 
the  life  of  George  Frederick  Handel,  a  description 
of  his  "Messiah,"  and  learn  of  the  effect  it  pro- 
duced when  it  was  first  given  in  the  city  of  Dublin. 
We  read  of  its  presentation  in  London  shortly 
after,  when  the  audience  was  so  electrified  by  the 
"Hallelujah  Chorus"  that  the  King  and  all  present 
rose  involuntarily  and  remained  standing  till  its 
close.  We  are  interested  in  this  account,  but  the 
reading  does  not  enable  us  to  appreciate  the  ora- 
torio. Next  we  go  to  the  Auditorium  and  hear 
the  "Messiah"  presented  by  noted  soloists  and  the 
great  chorus  and  orchestra.  We  are  more  than 
interested  now,  tho  many  parts  of  the  compo- 
sition find  no  response  in  us — we  have  not  been 
educated  in  music.  The  grandeur  of  other  parts, 
however,  does  affect  us,  but  we  do  not  yet  appre- 
ciate the  oratorio.  Then  we  learn  to  sing,  and 
join  the  great  chorus.  Under  the  inspiring  leader- 
ship of  a  Thomas  or  Damrosch,  we  sing  the  parts 
over  and  over;  we  rehearse  with  the  soloists  and 
orchestra ;  and  on  the  night  of  the  concert  we  pour 
out  our  souls  in  music  till  we  are  lifted  above  our- 
selves and  things  of  earth  and  are  touched  by  the 
same  emotion  that  inspired  the  composer.  We 
may  not  think  we  see  "all  heaven  before  us  and 
the  great  God  Himself"  as  did  Handel  when  he 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  APPRECIATION  39 

wrote  the  "Hallelujah,"  but  we  have  in  some  meas- 
ure come  to  appreciate  the  "Messiah,"  and  we 
have  established  a  basis  for  the  appreciation  of 
all  other  oratorios. 

Another  illustration  from  music:  A  boy  in  the 
fifth  grade  in  the  public  school  read  in  his  school 
reader  an  account  of  the  writing  of  Mozart's 
"Requiem."  He  read  how  the  unknown  visitor 
came  and  gave  Mozart  the  commission,  how  he 
disappeared  so  mysteriously  that  Mozart  believed 
the  stranger  had  been  sent  from  another  world;  he 
interpreted  the  coming  as  announcing  his  own  ap- 
proaching end,  and  so  applied  himself  with  in- 
creased ardor  to  the  task  of  writing  the 
"Requiem."  Later  the  boy  learned  to  play  a 
selection  from  the  "Requiem"  on  the  piano  and 
recalled  what  he  had  read  two  years  before.  He 
hunted  up  his  old  reader  and  re-read  the  story; 
then  going  to  the  piano  he  sat  down  and  played 
the  selection  again.  It  was  evident  that  his  emo- 
tions were  affected  by  the  music  as  they  had  not 
been  before.  The  "Requiem"  had  a  new  meaning 
to  him;  he  had  reached  a  stage  of  appreciation 
which  was  not  evident  before  he  re-read  the  story, 
and  certainly  not  before  he  learned  to  play  the 
selection  from  the  "Requiem."  He  does  not  yet 
fully  appreciate  the  "Requiem,"  but  he  has  the 
foundation  for  a  growing  appreciation. 

Turning  now  to  the  manual  arts  we  may  find 
similar  illustrations.  A  young  man  sees  a  water- 


4O  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

color  painting  and  likes  it,  but  he  does  not  appre- 
ciate it  until  he  has  struggled  with  muddy  washes 
and  hard  edges  and  false  values  and  learned  to 
produce  something  of  that  purity  and  delicacy  of 
color  and  those  atmospheric  effects  which  belong 
particularly  to  paintings  in  water-color.  He  may 
have  read  much  about  water-color  painting  and 
water-color  paintings  and  water-color  painters,  but 
he  gets  only  part  value  in  return  for  his  reading 
until  he  has  studied  the  art  itself.  After  that,  the 
reading  is  of  great  value. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  art  of  smithing.  Not 
until  one  has  drawn  out  the  hot  iron  with  the 
hammer  and  anvil  and  discovered  the  difficulties 
in  making  a  graceful  bend  or  a  neat  weld  can  he 
appreciate  medieval  wrought-iron  work.  Until 
then  the  hinges  on  the  doors  of  Kenilworth  Church 
or  Notre  Dame  Cathedral  are  so  many  black 
scrolls  and  sprays.  They  might  just  as  well  have 
been  made  of  painted  stucco  as  nobly  wrought 
metal.  After  he  has  himself  worked  in  iron,  every 
fact  in  the  history  of  the  craft,  and  every  master- 
piece has  a  new  interest  to  him.  The  fact  that  so 
few  of  us  appreciate  wrought  iron  is  why  we  ac- 
cept substitutes  from  those  who  would  deceive  us. 

A  short  time  ago  while  in  an  art  store  a  clerk 
wished  me  to  admire  some  pieces  of  copper  work 
— "A  very  fine  new  line,  just  in,"  she  said,  and 
then  spoke  of  the  individual  pieces  in  most  en- 
thusiastic terms,  telling  me  that  they  were  all 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  APPRECIATION  41 

beaten  up  by  hand.  The  moment  I  saw  them  I 
knew  they  were  not  hand  work.  Having  ham- 
mered copper  myself,  I  knew  that  the  pieces  before 
me  were  not  even  good  imitations  of  hand  work, 
and  so  I  pointed  out  her  mistake.  She  still  insisted 
and  carried  the  case  to  the  proprietor  for  vindica- 
tion. Much  to  her  chagrin  he  admitted  the  truth. 
The  clerk  herself  did  not  intend  to  misrepresent 
facts;  she  was  merely  repeating  what  had  been 
told  her.  She  had  no  appreciation  of  the  wares 
she  was  trying  to  sell.  She  could  talk  glibly  about 
a  dozen  kinds  of  handicraft  work,  but  she  had  no 
real  appreciation  of  any  of  them.  Every  day  she 
was  misleading  an  ignorant  public  that  came  to  the 
best  art  store  in  town  to  buy  genuine  art  products. 
In  this  connection  it  is  well  to  remember  that 
one  may  be  attracted  by  the  form  of  an  object  or 
its  use  without  appreciating  it  as  an  art  product; 
or,  in  painting,  one  may  be  interested  in  the  subject 
of  the  composition  and  may  value  the  picture 
without  appreciating  the  painting  as  a  work  of  art. 
I  used  to  know  a  man  who  painted  pictures  of  farm 
houses  and  cornfields  and  sold  them  to  the  owners 
of  the  farm  houses.  The  farmers  bought  his  pic- 
tures not  because  they  appreciated  the  painting, 
but  because  they  were  interested  in  the  thing  he 
represented  in  his  pictures.  If  they  had  appre- 
ciated painting  they  would  not  have  bought  his 
pictures.  Appreciation  of  an  art,  then,  demands 
a  high  standard  in  works  that  are  representative 


42  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

of  that  art.  To  raise  the  level  of  appreciation  in 
a  community  is  to  raise  the  standard  of  art  prod- 
ucts that  can  be  sold  in  that  community. 

What  we  have  observed  to  be  true  in  reference 
to  the  arts  of  painting  and  metalwork  is  equally 
true  in  reference  to  any  of  the  mechanical  arts. 
For  a  generation  our  engineering  colleges  have 
recognized  that  to  read  about  pattern-making,  or 
moulding  or  machine  construction,  is  not  sufficient 
for  the  engineer,  even  tho  as  an  engineer  he 
may  never  have  to  do  the  handwork.  In  order  to 
gain  reasonable  knowledge  of  processes  and  an 
appreciation  of  quality  in  construction,  it  is  essen- 
tial that  the  student  in  training  have  actual  shop 
experience  in  all  the  fundamental  crafts  he  is  likely 
to  deal  with  as  an  engineer.  In  this  way  only  can 
a  feeling  for  good  workmanship — an  educated 
sense  of  fitness — be  imparted  in  the  short  period 
of  the  school  preparation  of  an  engineer.  But 
here,  too,  mere  practice  in  the  craft  is  not  suffi- 
cient. Along  with  the  practice  must  come  a  study 
of  the  theory  of  construction  and  the  economics 
of  its  application  to  industries,  also  a  study  of  the 
materials  employed,  the  source  of  supply,  methods 
of  refining,  etc.  The  student  gets  the  theory  and 
the  practice — the  science  and  the  art — together. 
Each  helps  the  other. 

If  these  illustrations  have  been  pertinent  to  the 
problem  under  discussion  we  may  infer,  ( 1 )  that 
some  definite  knowledge  of  the  technic  of  an  art 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  APPRECIATION  43 

is  fundamental  to  any  real  appreciation  of  that  art, 

(2)  that  appreciation  involves  feeling  which  can 
be  gained  only  thru  experience  in  the  art  itself, 

(3)  that  after  such  experience,  appreciation  may 
be  developed  by  reading  about  processes,  methods, 
motives,  relationships,  about  the  masterpieces,  and 
especially  by  studying  the  works  themselves. 

With  the  foregoing  discussion  in  mind  we  may 
now  turn  our  thoughts  for  a  moment  to  the  public 
schools.  The  aim  of  the  public  schools,  in  refer- 
ence to  the  manual  arts,  is  not  fundamentally  to 
turn  out  a  few  great  artists  and  master  craftsmen. 
It  is  rather  to  educate  many  pupils  to  a  reasonably 
high  degree  of  industrial  efficiency,  and  to  give  all 
pupils  the  power  of  discrimination  and  apprecia- 
tion. With  our  present  ideas  of  training  for  citi- 
zenship in  a  democracy,  we  usually  discourage 
much  specialization  in  the  elementary  school,  and 
aim  to  produce  a  high  general  average  of  manual 
efficiency.  We  prefer  considerable  familiarity 
with  several  crafts  to  expertness  in  one.  Likewise 
in  the  matter  of  appreciation  we  prefer  to  have  it 
cover  a  wide  range  of  handicrafts  rather  than  be 
narrowed  down  to  one  or  two. 

Accepting  this  point  of  view,  for  the  present,  at 
least,  it  follows  from  what  has  been  said  that  in 
order  to  develop  the  kind  of  appreciation  we  want 
in  American  citizens,  it  becomes  necessary  for  the 
public  schools  to  give  instruction  in  a  variety  of 
arts  and  crafts  rather  than  to  confine  its  efforts 


44  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

to  one  or  two.  Without  forgetting  the  dangers 
of  a  mere  "smattering"  of  a  subject,  we  recognize 
the  importance  of  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  a 
variety  of  materials  and  processes  as  the  basis  for 
a  broad  appreciation.  Moreover,  such  acquaint- 
ance is  the  foundation  for  effective  work  in  voca- 
tional guidance.  A  course  thru  the  grades  con- 
sisting merely  of  paper  and  cardboard  work,  still- 
life  drawing,  and  a  course  of  benchwork  in  wood 
is  decidedly  inferior  to  a  course  which  includes 
fundamental  processes  in  (a)  the  graphic  arts — 
drawing  and  picture  making,  (b)  the  mechanic 
arts — woodworking  and  metalworking,  (c)  the 
plastic  arts — modeling  and  pottery,  (d)  the  textile 
arts — weaving,  braiding,  sewing,  and  garment 
making,  and  (e)  the  bookmaking  arts — paper  and 
cardboard  work,  lettering,  bookbinding  and 
leather  tooling.  Not  one  of  these  five  subdivi- 
sions of  the  manual  arts  can  be  omitted  from  the 
course  without  correspondingly  limiting  the  possi- 
bilities for  the  development  of  appreciation. 

But  it  is  not  sufficient  that  the  child  do  the  work 
merely,  even  in  all  these  varied  arts  and  indus- 
tries; he  must  be  led  to  see  beyond  the  work  of  his 
own  hands;  he  must  learn  something  of  the  rela- 
tionship of  each  art  to  the  great  out-of-school 
world  into  which  he  will  soon  be  thrown,  and  to 
the  history  of  industrial  effort.  Information  con- 
cerning the  origin  and  development  of  any  art — 
the  social  conditions  that  called  it  forth  and  nour- 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  APPRECIATION  45 

ished  it — will  give  the  pupil's  own  work  new  sig- 
nificance. The  masterpieces,  too,  and  the  experi- 
ences of  the  men  who  created  them,  should  be  an 
inspiration  to  him.  Biography,  history,  economics, 
science  and  literature  may  all  contribute  elements 
to  his  developing  appreciation. 

The  development  of  appreciation  in  the  manual 
arts  as  a  factor  in  public  school  effort  does  not 
mean  less  handwork  and  more  information,  but  it 
does  mean  more  information  of  a  significant  char- 
acter connected  with  the  handwork,  from  what- 
ever source  it  may  come.  It  means  a  new  point  of 
view  for  many  teachers  of  the  manual  arts,  and 
especially  it  means  enrichment  of  the  course  of 
study  and  rational  correlation. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

VOCATIONAL  TRAINING — To  WHAT  EXTENT 
JUSTIFIABLE  IN  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS? 

TN  business  the  amount  of  money  that  may  profit- 
ably  be  spent  in  advertising  depends  upon  the 
financial  returns  from  such  advertising.  Whether 
a  business  house  can  afford  to  spend  one  thousand 
or  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  educating  the 
public  up  to  its  standard  of  quality  and  taste  de- 
pends upon  the  returns  it  can  get  in  sales  which  are 
the  result  of  such  educational  expenditure.  There 
is  no  limit  to  the  justifiable  expenditure  so  long  as 
the  returns  come  in  in  sufficient  ratio  to  the  capital 
invested  in  this  way.  Likewise  the  question  of  how 
much  the  business  house  can  afford  to  spend  in  the 
special  education  of  salesmen  depends  upon  the 
returns  in  sales  in  proportion  to  the  outlay  for 
education  and  wages. 

This  same  principle  holds  true  in  public  educa- 
tion. Any  expenditure  is  justifiable  so  long  as  the 
returns  are  sufficient  in  kind,  quality,  and  amount. 
In  this  case,  however,  the  returns  are  not  in  terms 
of  dollars  for  the  business  corporation,  or  salary 
for  the  individual,  but  in  terms  of  benefits  realiz- 
able by  all  the  people  of  the  city,  the  state,  the 
nation — by  the  public.  The  late  General  Francis 

46 


VOCATIONAL  TRAINING  IN  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  47 

A.  Walker  once  said  that  the  demand  for  public 
schools  "has  been  purely  socialistic  in  character, 
springing  out  of  a  conviction  that  the  state  would 
be  stronger,  and  the  individual  members  of  the 
state  would  be  richer  and  happier  and  better  if 
power  and  discretion  in  this  matter  of  education 
of  children  were  taken  away  from  the  family  and 
lodged  with  the  government."  It  is  of  the  great- 
est concern  to  the  public  how  the  children  of  the 
nation  are  educated,  and  the  nation  or  the  state  is 
justified  in  adopting  any  reasonable  measures  that 
will  produce  efficient  citizens. 

The  more  one  studies  the  history  of  the  public 
schools  the  more  it  becomes  clear  to  him  that  the 
great  purpose  of  such  schools  is  fundamentally 
vocational.  We  are  aware  of  the  fact  that  it  is 
customary  to  speak  of  the  aim  of  the  public  schools 
as  being,  first,  cultural,  and  incidentally  vocational. 
From  the  standpoint  of  the  state,  however,  the 
former  may  be  regarded  as  incidental  to  the  latter. 
General  education — at  least,  that  part  of  it  that  is 
given  during  the  first  six  years,  which  we  call 
elementary  education  is,  so  far  as  the  state  is  con- 
cerned, but  the  beginning  of  an  education,  the 
whole  of  which  is  the  making  of  efficient  social 
units.  And  an  efficient  unit  of  society  must  have 
a  vocation,  and  to  be  most  efficient  that  unit  must 
be  trained  in  some  way — either  in  public  schools  or 
at  private  expense  or  thru  vocational  experience  or 
by  means  of  a  combination  of  these.  Elementary 


48  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

education  is,  then,  from  this  point  of  view,  the 
foundation  of  a  structure  which  is  essentially  voca- 
tional. And  it  is,  or  ought  to  be,  just  as  funda- 
mental to  success  in  the  vocations  connected  with 
the  industries  as  with  the  professions,  and,  in  fact, 
far  more  so,  if  there  must  be  a  difference,  because 
the  great  majority  of  students  go  into  the  indus- 
tries. But  whether  we  regard  elementary  educa- 
tion as  chiefly  a  means  to  vocational  ends  or  not, 
the  fact  of  a  vocational  end  in  public  education  as  a 
whole  seems  evident. 

The  economic  value  of  education  certainly  is 
not  sufficiently  appreciated  in  America.  We  be- 
lieve, in  general,  that  education  makes  a  man  a  bet- 
ter member  of  society,  but  we  do  not  believe  it  in 
particular.  We  realize  that  an  educated  man  has 
greater  possibilities  of  making  himself  useful,  but 
we  do  not  see  clearly  the  economy  of  educating 
every  man  to  the  point  of  making  him  the  most 
efficient  possible  social  unit.  As  some  one  has  said, 
we  believe  in  educating  corn  until  it  contains  the 
highest  possible  proportion  of  the  desired  ele- 
ments; we  believe  in  breeding  horses  and  cattle 
and  hogs  and  poultry;  but  we  have  not  yet  come 
to  realize  that  educating  men  is  just  as  profitable, 
provided,  of  course,  that  the  education  is  in  the 
direction  of  giving  the  best  possible  social  results. 
We  seem  to  be  a  long  way  from  an  appreciation 
of  the  full  value  of  a  healthy,  efficient,  happy 
human  being.  Perhaps  the  cultivation  of  such 


VOCATIONAL  TRAINING  IN  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  49 

beings  is  to  be  the  great  work  of  the  twentieth 
century.  If  so,  vocational  education  is  going  to  be 
a  big  factor  in  accomplishing  the  desired  result. 

Greater  emphasis  on  the  vocational  elements  in 
education  need  not  cause  any  sacrifice  in  the  total 
cultural  effect.  On  the  contrary  it  will  tend  to 
raise  the  general  average  of  culture,  (a)  because 
it  will  keep  pupils  in  school  longer,  and  (b)  be- 
cause the  vocation  may,  for  many  students,  become 
the  most  effective  focal  center  around  which  a 
broad  education  may  be  gathered.  There  are  two 
roads  to  a  broad  culture — one  by  way  of  a  course 
that  is  general  from  beginning  to  end,  the  other 
by  a  narrower,  vocational  course  which,  if  pursued 
long  enough,  is  bound  to  lead  out  into  paths  cov- 
ering the  broad  field.  Dr.  Kerchensteiner  of 
Munich,  when  in  conference  with  the  Illinois  Edu- 
cational Commission  in  Chicago,  indicated  that  it 
was  his  belief  that  of  the  two  roads  the  latter  was 
the  better.  It  is  not  in  harmony  with  the  curricula 
of  our  American  schools,  but  it  is  in  harmony  with 
one  of  the  fundamental  laws  of  our  educational 
psychology.  It  possesses  the  advantage  of  build- 
ing upon  natural  interests,  and  in  addition  to  this, 
it  insures  getting  to  some  definite  end  which  is 
socially  worth  while.  It  would  seem  that  the 
carrying  out  of  this  theory  in  the  schools  of 
Munich  is  striking  a  new  note  in  educational 
method.  Herbart  would  make  history  the  focal 
center  of  the  curriculum;  Colonel  Parker  would 


50  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

give  that  place  to  geography;  but  it  has  remained 
for  Dr.  Kerchensteiner,  with  his  social  and  peda- 
gogical insight  and  his  rare  statesmanship,  to 
make  the  vocation  of  the  individual  the  focal 
center  for  his  education,  thereby  elevating  the 
vocation,  while  at  the  same  time  leading  the  stu- 
dent in  the  most  natural  possible  way  out  into 
broad  fields  of  knowledge  and  culture.  Such  a 
program  is  not  a  study  of  the  humanities  with 
humanity  left  out;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  in  vital 
touch  from  beginning  to  end  with  the  work  and 
thoughts,  the  aspirations  and  the  victories,  of  hu- 
man experience.  While  making  a  student,  it  pro- 
duces also  a  man — an  efficient  social  unit.  The 
best  vocational  education,  then,  is  also  cultural, 
and  the  best  cultural  education  may  come  thru  a 
training  that  is  fundamentally  vocational. 

Coming  now  to  the  question  before  us,  we  may 
say  that  in  so  far  as  vocational  education  is  eco- 
nomically profitable  to  a  city,  state,  or  nation,  it  is 
justifiable,  but  as  a  matter  of  course,  it  should  not 
take  the  place  of  any  fundamental  education  that 
is  more  profitable. 

The  nation  is  justified  in  training  a  few  military 
leaders  at  West  Point  and  Annapolis  because  the 
welfare  of  all  the  people  of  the  nation,  in  time  of 
war,  depends  upon  the  knowledge  and  leadership 
of  these  few  experts.  The  nation  is  justified  in 
educating  chemists  and  biologists  to  test  foods  and 
prevent  the  spread  of  disease,  also  to  train  meter- 


VOCATIONAL  TRAINING  IN  PUBLIC" SCHOOLS  51 

ologists  to  prognosticate  concerning  the  weather, 
because  all  the  people  benefit  directly  or  indirectly 
by  their  work.  By  the  same  token  the  state  is 
justified  in  educating  every  man  to  his  highest 
efficiency  in  his  chosen  occupation,  provided  that 
in  the  pursuit  of  that  occupation  he  serves  the 
community  in  a  beneficial  way.  It  is  not  the  func- 
tion of  the  state  to  educate  pickpockets  and  hold- 
up men,  boodlers,  yellow-journalists,  and  anarch- 
ists. Indeed  we  should  do  everything  possible  to 
eliminate  the  kind  of  vocational  training  that  pro- 
duces these  in  our  midst.  They  are  a  very  dan- 
gerous by-product  of  our  social  system,  and  may 
be,  in  part,  at  least,  the  result  of  our  failure  to 
give  vocational  guidance  and  adequate  vocational 
training  in  the  schools. 

For  a  striking  illustration  of  the  value  of  voca- 
tional education  to  a  nation,  we  may  turn  to  Ger- 
many: 

Years  ago  English  manufacturers  were  both- 
ered by  the  importation  of  cheap  goods  from  Ger- 
many. As  England  had  no  protective  tariff  to 
prevent  such  damage  to  her  markets  she  resorted 
to  an  ingenious  device,  passing  a  law  that  all 
goods  coming  from  Germany  should  be  marked 
"Made  in  Germany."  The  aim  in  this  act  was  to 
create  a  sentiment  against  such  goods,  and  to  warn 
every  English  buyer  against  the  inferior  imported 
articles  that  were  threatening  to  undermine  cer- 


52  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

tain  English  industries.  "Made  in  Germany"  was 
thus  intended  to  signify  inferiority. 

To  an  aspiring  commercial  nation  this  was  a 
severe  blow.  It  was  in  fact  humiliating;  but  it  was 
accepted  as  a  challenge.  Germany  set  about  to 
turn  the  trick  back  upon  England,  and  quietly  de- 
veloped her  remarkable  system  of  industrial 
schools  and  compulsory  continuation  schools.  Her 
scientists  and  artists  multiplied  and  focused  their 
efforts  upon  industry.  The  quality  of  her  goods 
improved  steadily  until  today  the  phrase  "Made 
in  Germany"  stands  for  a  substantial  quality  and 
artistic  finish  that  command  the  attention  of  the 
markets  of  the  world.  In  many  instances  German 
products  have  crowded  out  English  goods. 

In  January,  1899,  Germany's  mastery  of  one  of 
England's  greatest  industries  had  enabled  her  to 
produce  that  splendid  steamship,  "Kaiser  Wilhelm 
der  Grosse."  This  great  vessel,  perfect  in  every 
detail,  had  just  crossed  the  Atlantic,  making  the 
swiftest  passage  of  any  vessel.  With  glowing 
pride  in  this  achievement  the  captain  painted  on 
the  side  of  his  vessel,  in  great  letters,  the  legend, 
"Made  in  Germany,"  and  triumphantly  sailed  up 
the  Solent  to  the  port  of  Southampton.  This  was 
a  fine  bit  of  retaliation,  and  it  was  appreciated. 

After  relating  this  incident  to  a  body  of  stu- 
dents, J.  H.  Reynolds,  director  of  the  Municipal 
Technical  School  at  Manchester,  said,  "The  effi- 
cient cause  for  all  I  have  been  saying  about  Ger- 


VOCATIONAL  TRAINING  IN  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  53 

many  is  her  schools."  Germany  believes  that  edu- 
cation pays  because  it  helps  men  to  become  more 
efficient  and  she  believes  in  making  it  compulsory 
because  every  worker  should  have  a  chance  to  rise 
to  his  highest  efficiency,  not  only  for  his  own  sake 
but  for  the  sake  of  the  nation. 

Vocational  training  is  justifiable  in  the  public 
schools  to  such  an  extent  as  will  be  effective  and 
economical  in  producing  efficient  citizens. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  SELECTION  AND  ORGANIZATION  OF  SUB- 
JECT-MATTER IN  THE  MANUAL  ARTS. 

T  T  seems  unnecessary  and  even  undesirable  to 
attempt  to  draw  a  sharp  line  of  demarkation 
between  the  manual  arts  for  vocational  ends  and 
the  manual  arts  for  general  educational  ends.  We 
should  recognize  a  dual  end  in  education,  but  we 
would  not  sever  the  whole  educational  system  by 
a  social  line  as  Europe  has  done,  and  we  would 
not  start  on  that  road  by  trying  to  separate  the 
practical  from  the  cultural  in  the  subjects  of 
instruction.  With  reference  to  this  matter  we 
believe  that  the  layman  who  views  school  work 
from  the  outside  and  calls  all  handwork  by  the 
same  name — all  manual  training  or  all  industrial 
training  or  all  vocational  training,  whichever  word 
may  have  come  into  his  vocabulary — is  nearer  the 
big  truth  than  the  educational  expert  who  tries  to 
divide  what  is  and,  in  the  nature  of  things,  should 
be  fundamentally  an  indivisible  unit.  The  expert 
may  point  out  different  aspects  of  this  unit  and 
give  them  names,  but  he  cannot  make  clear  to  the 
layman  or  the  practical  workman  who  thinks  for 
himself,  just  where  lines  can  reasonably  be  drawn 
54 


SELECTION  OF  SUBJECT-MATTER  IN  MANUAL  ARTS     55 

between  the  two.     Why,  then,  should  we  try  to 
emphasize  such  differences? 

But  let  us  see;  let  us  consider  the  matter.  And 
in  order  to  do  this  in  a  reasonable  way  let  us  first 
eliminate  all  manual  training  that  is  not  practi- 
cal— that  does  not  help  in  the  formation  of  good 
habits  in  the  use  of  tools  and  train  for  intelligent 
workmanship,  and  at  the  same  time  eliminate  all 
vocational  work  that  makes  a  man  a  mere  ma- 
chine— leads  him  into  a  narrow  alley  of  thought 
and  effort.  This  will  eliminate  a  great  deal  of 
trash  that  by  sufferance  still  passes  under  the  name 
of  manual  training,  but  ought  not  to  any  longer 
because  something  better  is  here  to  take  its  place. 
It  will  also  eliminate  much  repressive  work  now 
done  under  apprenticeship  agreements,  and  some 
done  by  part-time  and  co-operative  schools;  but 
this  also  ought  not  to  continue  because  a  better  way 
for  all  concerned  has  already  been  pointed  out. 
After  eliminating  these,  what  is  left  has  more 
likenesses  than  differences.  The  differences  are 
no  greater  than  between  arithmetic  and  shop  arith- 
metic; both  are  arithmetic,  but  the  approach  or  the 
selection  or  the  application  is  different.  In  both 
the  same  eternal  fundamentals  are  taught.  Just 
so  in  woodworking  or  metalworking;  the  funda- 
mentals that  are  at  the  basis  of  any  good  work  in 
either  manual  training  or  vocational  training  in 
these  subjects  are  identical.  This  fact  is  so  easily 
recognizable  by  every  man  who  has  been  both  a 


56  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

practical  workman  and  a  teacher  that  it  seems 
unnecessary  to  instance  the  early  history  of  manual 
training  when  the  fundamentals — the  elements  of 
instruction — were  obtained  by  subjecting  the  best 
practice  in  the  mechanic  arts  to  a  process  of  analy- 
sis with  reference  to  teaching,  or  to  the  fact  that 
in  the  best  trade  courses  today  both  in  this  country 
and  Europe — those  which  have  become  well  estab- 
lished and  are  turning  out  skillful  men — base  their 
instruction  on  these  same  fundamental  elements. 
So  far  as  the  fundamentals  of  hand-tool  instruc- 
tion are  concerned  the  main  difference  between 
good  manual  training  and  good  vocational  train- 
ing is  in  the  amount  of  time  and  the  age  of 
students,  and  not  in  the  fundamental  elements 
themselves. 

This,  however,  is  not  the  whole  story.  There 
is  a  notable  difference  between  arithmetic  and  shop 
arithmetic  and  that  is  in  its  application  to  modern 
shop  problems.  Likewise  there  is  a  difference  be- 
tween manual  training  woodworking  and  voca- 
tional school  woodworking  and  that  difference  is 
in  its  application  to  modern  shop  conditions.  In 
other  words,  vocational  woodworking  is  good 
manual  training  in  wood  plus  the  factory  system. 
This  formula  seems  too  simple  a  one  in  which  to 
state  the  complex  situation  we  sometimes  hear 
about  in  educational  meetings  and  in  the  educa- 
tional press,  but  we  believe  it  to  be  true.  And 
if  it  is  true  for  woodworking,  it  is  likely  to  be 


SELECTION  OF  SUBJECT-MATTER  IN  MANUAL  ARTS     57 

just  as  true  in  other  manual  arts  that  have  come 
under  the  modern  factory  system. 

By  this  formula,  however,  one  should  not  at- 
tempt to  solve  all  the  problems  of  external  and 
internal  organization  nor  of  method,  tho  it  may 
help  in  some  of  these.  The  addition  indicated 
in  the  formula  may  be  performed  in  a  physical 
sense,  as  by  fusion,  or  in  a  biological  sense  as  by 
natural  selection  thru  a  process  of  growth,  using 
the  best  available  means.  Both  of  these  processes 
are  going  on  in  vocational  school  experiments. 
And  whichever  way  the  addition  is  being  per- 
formed there  is  always  to  be  found  on  the  inside 
a  unity  in  the  art  that  is  being  taught  which  is 
far  more  vital  for  the  future  of  all  this  great 
movement  in  education  than  are  the  superficial 
and  organization  differences. 

When  we  analyze  the  situation  for  ourselves, 
instead  of  accepting  somebody's  dictum,  we  are 
forced  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is  no  sharp 
fundamental  line  of  demarkation  that  should  be 
drawn  between  the  manual  arts  for  vocational 
ends  and  the  manual  arts  for  general  educational 
ends.  The  factory  system  which  has  been  a  dis- 
tinctive element  in  vocational  schools  has  seemed 
to  suggest  the  most  reasonable  line  of  demarka- 
tion, but,  as  has  been  shown,  pedagogically 
speaking,  the  factory  system  in  the  school  is 
essentially  a  means  of  teaching  the  application 
of  fundamentals,  which  are  the  very  essence  of 


58  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

manual  training  work.  In  the  interests  of  future 
development  this  unity  should  be  maintained  and 
strengthened. 

Accepting  this  point  of  view,  no  marked  dis- 
tinction will  be  made  in  the  following  discussion 
between  the  arts  pursued  for  vocational  ends  and 
those  for  ends  usually  denominated  as  cultural  or 
general.  Indeed,  an  effort  will  be  made  to  forget 
that  there  may  be  any  difference. 

/.  It  is  desirable  to  select  subject-matter  that 
has  some  industrial  value  at  the  present  time  in 
our  own  nation  or  state. 

At  Bradley  Institute  there  is  an  exhibit  of  fish 
traps,  basket  work,  and  mat-weaving  that  came 
from  the  Philippine  Islands  about  a  dozen  years 
ago.  In  several  respects  it  is  a  remarkable  exhibit 
of  handicraft.  It  represents  a  great  deal  of  skill 
and  knowledge.  It  would  be  quite  possible,  with 
the  requisite  materials  imported  to  this  country, 
to  work  out  a  course  of  problems  which,  if  taught 
thoroly  in  our  upper  grammar  grades,  would  en- 
able our  American  boys  to  make  good  fish  traps 
of  the  Philippine  type,  also  baskets  and  mats. 
But  who  would  be  willing  to  recommend  that  such 
work  take  the  place  of  our  own  American  wood- 
working and  metalworking  in  the  schools?  Even 
though  it  were  proven  that  the  physical  and  mental 
effects  of  the  fish  trap  course  were  superior,  we 
would  still  refuse  to  make  the  substitution  simply 
because  we  have  no  use  for  such  fish  traps,  except 


SELECTION  OF  SUBJECT-MATTER  IN  MANUAL  ARTS     59 

to  place  them  in  museums.  On  the  other  hand, 
knowledge  and  skill  in  woodworking  and  metal- 
working  are  usable  in  America.  Woodworking 
and  metalworking  with  American  bench  tools  have 
an  industrial  value. 

The  city  of  Strasburg  has  developed  a  peculiar 
course  in  wood-carving.  The  work  is  done  with 
tiny  carving  tools  set  in  engraver's  tool  handles. 
In  carving,  a  student  takes  a  small  block  of  wood 
about  three  inches  square  and  holds  it  with  his 
left  hand  on  another  block  that  is  fastened  to  a 
desk  top.  He  works  in  about  the  same  way  as 
an  engraver  of  copper  or  silver  who,  with  his 
left  hand,  holds  his  work  on  a  leather  pad  filled 
with  sand,  while  with  his  right  hand  he  holds 
the  tool  and  does  the  cutting.  We  would  not 
recommend  this  type  of  work  in  the  United  States, 
even  though  we  considered  it  good  manual  gym- 
nastics, because  it  has  very  little  or  no  industrial 
value.  It  is  neither  real  wood-carving  nor  is  it 
good  wood  engraving.  It  is  merely  a  hybrid 
industrial  work  developed  by  a  school  teacher 
for  disciplinary  purposes.  If  we  are  to  teach 
wood-carving  in  the  manual  training  school,  it 
should  be  the  kind  of  wood-carving  used  in 
America. 

To  meet  our  first  demand,  then,  the  subject- 
matter  of  the  manual  arts  must  have  some  indus- 
trial value  in  the  country  where  it  is  to  be  taught. 

2.     For  public  school  instruction  it  is  desirable 


60  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

to  select  subject-matter  from  typical  common  in- 
dustries rather  than  from  the  exceptional  and 
uncommon  ones. 

If  we  consult  the  United  States  census  for 
1910,  we  find  that  36  per  cent,  or  10,851,000  of 
the  male  population  above  10  years  of  age,  who 
are  employed  in  gainful  occupations  are  engaged 
in  agriculture,  forestry  and  animal  husbandry;  29 
per  cent,  or  8,837,000  are  engaged  in  manufac- 
turing and  mechanical  industries;  10  per  cent,  or 
3,146,000  are  engaged  in  trade;  8  per  cent,  or 
2,531,000  are  engaged  in  transportation;  and  less 
than  half  the  latter  number  in  each  of  the  follow- 
ing: clerical  occupations,  domestic  and  personal 
service,  professional  service,  public  service  and  the 
extraction  of  minerals.  This  shows  that  agricul- 
ture employs  the  largest  number  of  men,  that 
manufacturing  employs  the  second  largest,  and 
that  these  two  together  occupy  the  time  of  65  per 
cent  of  the  entire  body  of  male  workers.  This 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  school  is  making 
no  mistake  when  it  looks  to  agriculture  and  manu- 
facturing for  subject-matter. 

If  we  carry  our  analysis  a  little  further,  making 
a  distinction  between  farmers  and  farm  laborers, 
assuming  that  the  former  need  more  schooling 
than  the  latter,  we  find  that  more  than  half  the 
total  number  engaged  in  agriculture,  or  about 
5,850,000  are  in  occupations  in  which  a  good 
education  ought  to  be  regarded  as  a  necessity.  If 


SELECTION  or  SUBJECT-MATTER  IN  MANUAL  ARTS     61 

we  analyze  the  workers  in  the  manufacturing  in- 
dustries we  find  about  the  same  to  be  true:  A 
little  more  than  half,  or  about  4,700,000  are 
skilled  workers,  1,725,000  are  semi-skilled,  2,400,- 
000  are  laborers,  and  100,000  are  apprentices. 

If  we  carry  the  analysis  still  further  we  find  that 
by  grouping  together  the  brick  and  stone  masons, 
the  carpenters,  the  builders  and  building  contrac- 
tors, the  plumbers  and  gas  and  steam  fitters,  and 
the  painters,  glaziers,  varnishers,  etc.,  we  have 
the  building  group  of  1,643,000  skilled  workers. 
Then  by  bringing  together  the  blacksmiths,  forge- 
men  and  hammer  men,  the  machinists,  millwrights 
and  toolmakers,  the  molders,  founders  and  casters, 
the  tinsmiths  and  coppersmiths  and  one-half  of 
the  foremen,  overseers,  manufacturers  and  offi- 
cials we  have  a  metal  industries  group  of  1,092,- 
000  skilled  workers.  It  should  be  remembered  in 
this  connection  that  the  number  of  semi-skilled 
and  unskilled  workers  in  the  metal  industries  is 
especially  large,  being  over  900,000. 

Besides  these  two  major  groups  there  are 
smaller  groups,  such  as  the  printing  and  publish- 
ing industries,  the  textile  and  clothing  industries, 
the  shoe  and  leather  industries,  and  the  group  of 
engineers  and  electricians. 

It  would  seem  to  be  clear,  then,  that  in  the 
two  great  fields  of  agriculture  and  manufacturing, 
American  schools  should  seek  subject-matter. 


6a  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

j.  The  selection  of  subject-matter  in  any  in- 
dustry should  be  based  on  an  analysis  of  that 
industry.  The  same  is  true  if  the  subject-matter  is 
to  be  taken  from  a  group  of  industries. 

Of  all  the  heretical  notions  that  have  crept 
into  our  discussion  of  industrial  education  during 
the  past  few  years  none  seems  to  be  more  damag- 
ing than  the  idea  that  all  you  have  to  do  to  give 
a  boy  a  vocational  education  is  to  give  him  jobs 
of  work  to  do  after  the  manner  of  the  factory. 
We  realize  that  this  idea  came  as  a  reaction 
against  a  supposed  or  a  real  over-emphasis  of 
logical  procedure  in  rigid  courses  of  instruction  in 
handwork.  But  that  is  not  sufficient  excuse  for 
throwing  aside  forty  years  of  experience  and  going 
back  to  the  point  where  we  began  in  1876.  Even 
the  factories  themselves  have  proven  that  this  is 
not  the  best  way  to  educate  their  apprentices; 
they  have  established  non-productive  shops  or 
semi-productive  shops  where  courses  of  instruc- 
tion organized  from  the  teaching  standpoint 
are  given.  If  proof  were  necessary  several  of 
the  corporation  schools  in  this  country  could  fur- 
nish ample  evidence  that  work  organized  for 
instruction  purposes  is  quite  different  from  work 
organized  for  the  immediate  production  of  manu- 
factured goods.  In  other  words,  the  factory 
method  of  employing  a  boy's  time  is  not  the  most 
economical  from  the  instruction  standpoint. 


SELECTION  OF  SUBJECT-MATTER  IN  MANUAL  ARTS     63 

If  this  be  recognized  as  fact  then  the  road  seems 
clear  toward  the  organization  of  work  from  the 
teaching  point  of  view,  and  this  involves  selecting 
fundamental  elements  of  subject-matter.  This 
selecting,  in  turn,  involves  an  analysis  of  the 
processes  of  the  industry  itself.  All  the  famous 
courses  in  handwork,  whether  for  the  training 
of  mechanics,  like  the  Russian  system,  or  the 
course  in  the  technical  school  at  Chalon,  France, 
or  in  the  Carnegie  Technical  School  in  this  coun- 
try; or  for  general  education,  like  the  sloyd  work 
of  Finland,  Sweden  and  Denmark,  or  the  manual 
training  system  of  France,  Germany,  England  and 
America;  or  in  the  highest  schools  of  art  crafts- 
manship in  England,  France  and  Germany; — in 
all  of  these  the  courses  in  handwork  are  based 
upon  an  analysis  of  trades,  or  groups  of  trades  or 
industries  or  parts  of  these.  In  every  case  some 
more  or  less  definite  field  of  industrial  work  is 
selected — usually  one  trade,  or  several  very  closely 
allied  trades — and  analyzed  with  reference  to 
selecting  elements  of  subject-matter  to  use  in  in- 
struction. 

But  not  all  analyses  of  the  same  trade  are  alike. 
One  may  be  better  than  another. 

The  usual  analysis  reduces  the  processes  of  the 
trade  to  its  simplest  teaching  elements,  so  that  they 
appear  one  after  another  in  mathematical  order, 
like  a  string  of  beads,  where  the  biggest  is  at  one 


64  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

end,  and  all  are  graded  down  to  the  smallest  at 
the  other. 

The  group  analysis  is  the  division  of  the  proc- 
ess into  masses  or  groups  of  homogeneous  or 
related  matter.  These  may  or  may  not  be  graded. 
They  may  be  like  the  little  bear,  the  middle-sized 
bear  and  the  big  bear  in  the  story  of  the  three 
bears,  or  they  may  be  like  bears  of  the  same  size. 
In  either  case  each  group  must  contain  some  vital 
element  or  elements  in  the  process. 

A  course  of  instruction  based  on  the  string-of- 
beads  or  course  analysis  takes  into  consideration 
the  capacities  and  sometimes  the  interests  of  the 
average  normal  child  to  be  taught,  but  it  is  weak 
because  it  is  narrow  and  rigid;  it  may  easily 
become  stereotyped  for  the  reason  that  it  treats 
all  students  alike — it  "runs  them  all  thru  the  same 
mill."  This  kind  of  analysis  used  as  a  basis 
for  the  selection  and  organization  of  subject-mat- 
ter in  certain  manual  training  work  would  seem 
to  be  the  cause  of  reaction  against  such  work. 

A  course  of  instruction  based  on  a  group  an- 
alysis is  better  because  it  is  flexible.  It  allows 
for  individual  differences.  It  lends  itself  far  bet- 
ter to  the  use  of  factory  methods  in  so  far  as  they 
may  be  used  at  all  to  advantage.  It  seems  to  be 
in  harmony  with  what  has  come  to  us  thru  the 
study  of  the  principles  of  modern  pedagogy. 

The  selection  and  organization  of  subject-mat- 
ter, then,  should  be  based  upon  an  analysis  of  the 


SELECTION  OF  SUBJECT-MATTER  IN  MANUAL  ARTS     65 

processes,  trade,  industry  or  industries  studied, 
and  that  analysis  should  be  made  with  reference 
to  discovering  groups  or  masses  or  chapters  of 
subject-matter  in  each  of  which  there  are  funda- 
mental, vital  elements. 

4.  The  trade  or  industry  analyzed  for  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  elements  of  subject-matter 
should  be  typical  and  modern. 

It  is  quite  possible  to  make  an  analysis  of  indus- 
trial processes  that  are  not  typical.  For  example, 
one  might  readily  find  a  man  called  a  machinist 
in  a  big  factory  and  follow  him  in  his  work  from 
day  to  day,  making  an  analysis  of  his  trade,  but  it 
would  be  found  to  be  lacking  in  elements  which 
are  considered  vital  in  the  equipment  of  a  machin- 
ist for  another  shop.  And  so  the  question  arises, 
Where  shall  we  find  the  typical  machinist?  in  the 
big  factory  or  in  the  small?  in  the  specialized  work 
of  the  big  industrial  city  or  the  more  varied  work 
common  to  the  smaller  town?  To  train  men  for 
one  set  of  factory  conditions  is  not  usually  re- 
garded as  the  highest  type  of  vocational  education, 
and  certainly  not  the  best  general  education.  The 
typical  example  of  a  trade  or  industry  is  not  always 
easy  to  find,  but  it  should  be  sought  for  purposes 
of  educational  analysis. 

Besides  being  typical  it  should  be  modern.  The 
analysis  of  cabinet-making  as  it  would  have  been 
made  by  a  New  York  or  New  England  cabinet- 
maker of  fifty  years  ago  would  be  defective  today. 


66  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

The  same  would  be  true  of  nearly  every  trade 
or  industry.  Re-analysis  will  be  needed  from  time 
to  time.  It  does  not  take  very  many  years  in  some 
industries  for  a  process  to  become  obsolete.  The 
school  should  recognize  this  fact  in  selecting  its 
subject-matter  for  industrial  courses. 

5.  The  resulting  groups  of  subject-matter  may 
vary  greatly  in  amount,  in  time  required,  in  general 
character,  but  each  must  contain  some  element  or 
elements  vital  to  the  subject  under  instruction  and 
the  groups  should,  as  a  rule,  be  arranged  in  some 
sequential  order. 

For  fear  that  there  may  be  some  reader  who 
is  afraid  of  that  word  "sequential,"  it  should  be 
stated  that  the  resulting  groups  mentioned  are  not 
based  on  the  string-of-beads  or  course  analysis, 
but  rather  on  the  group  analysis:  there  is  a  great 
difference.  There  is  no  reason  to  be  afraid  of  a 
sequential  order  if  it  does  not  lead  to  stereotyped 
teaching.  It  surely  is  a  safeguard  against  attempt- 
ing things  too  difficult.  It  is  also  an  insurance 
against  lack  of  preliminary  training. 

By  way  of  summary  we  may  again  ask  and 
briefly  answer  the  question :  What  should  govern 
the  choice  of  subject-matter  in  courses  of  study  in 
the  manual  arts? 

Subject-matter  in  the  manual  arts  must  have 
some  industrial  value  whether  it  is  given  in  a  voca- 
tional course  or  in  a  scheme  of  general  education. 
It  should  be  taken  from  typical,  present,  common 


SELECTION  OF  SUBJECT-MATTER  IN  MANUAL  ARTS     67 

industries  rather  than  from  obsolete  or  uncommon 
industries  or  parts  of  trades,  except  of  course  in 
the  case  of  highly  specialized  vocational  courses 
which  are  intended  to  meet  specific  demands.  The 
selection  of  subject-matter  in  any  industry  should 
be  based  on  an  analysis  of  that  industry.  This 
analysis  should  be  made  with  reference  to  finding 
groups  of  related  subject-matter,  each  of  which  is 
vital  to  the  industry  being  taught.  Only  such 
examples  of  the  industry  under  consideration  as 
are  typical  and  modern  should  be  used  in  making 
this  analysis.  The  resulting  groups  of  subject- 
matter  should  then  be  arranged  in  sequential  order 
for  purposes  of  instruction. 

It  is  believed  that  these  are  safe  governing 
propositions  whether  the  instruction  be  given  in 
a  vocational  class  or  is  an  integral  part  of  a  scheme 
of  general  education. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  GROUP  METHOD  OF  ORGANIZING  SUBJECT- 

MATTER  IN  THE  MANUAL  ARTS  WITH 

REFERENCE  TO  TEACHING. 


Group  Method  of  organizing  subject- 
matter  in  the  manual  arts  grew  out  of  an 
effort  to  harmonize  class  and  individual  methods 
of  instruction.  The  Russian  system  of  tool  in- 
struction with  its  "string-of-beads"  course  or  an- 
alysis and  its  tool  exercises  and  joints  demonstra- 
ted the  value  of  class  instruction.  The  Swedish 
sloyd,  also  with  a  "string-of-beads"  analysis,  but 
with  useful  models,  emphasized  individual  instruc- 
tion. The  Russian  system  was  developed  to  train 
men  for  service  in  connection  with  the  government 
railways.  The  aim  was  to  produce  intelligent  and 
skillful  workers  as  rapidly  and  economically  as  pos- 
sible. Consequently  the  class  was  the  center  of 
the  teacher's  effort.  Consideration  of  the  indi- 
vidual was  secondary  or  supplementary.  The 
Swedish  system  was  evolved  as  part  of  a  scheme 
of  general  education.  Its  first  aim  was  child  de- 
velopment, and  having  this  aim,  it  recognized 
individual  differences,  and  so  insisted  on  individual 
instruction.  The  coming  together  of  these  two 
systems  in  the  United  States  resulted  in  clashing 


GROUP  METHOD  OF  ORGANIZING  SUBJECT-MATTER     69 

of  ideals  and  methods  out  of  which  has  been 
developed  an  American  system  which  is  essentially 
different  from  either  but  includes  elements  gained 
from  both.  The  group  method  of  arranging  the 
course  came  from  neither  one,  but  it  was  the  result 
of  an  effort  to  combine  the  economy  and  stimulus 
of  class  instruction  with  the  best  consideration  of 
the  needs  of  individual  pupils. 

In  the  period  before  1893  it  was  the  common 
fault  of  teachers  who  had  been  trained  to  or  had 
imbibed  the  idea  of  class  instruction,  that  they 
constantly  strove  to  keep  all  the  pupils  of  a  class 
together  in  their  work.  The  striving  of  these 
teachers  was  constant  because  their  aim  could 
never  be  accomplished  under  ordinary  school  con- 
ditions. Children  were  not  alike  and  they  could 
not  be  made  so.  Many  were  the  devices  resorted 
to  in  this  vain  effort.  Some  of  these  may  be  illus- 
trated by  observations  made  on  a  tour  thru  cities 
in  Massachusetts,  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania  in 
1892.  For  convenience  the  schools  visited  may 
be  designated  as  A,  B,  C,  D,  and  E. 

A  was  a  manual  training  high  school.  Here 
the  teacher  of  woodworking  was  demonstrating 
the  making  of  a  dovetail-lap  joint.  At  the  close  of 
a  very  skillful  demonstration  he  said  to  the  class, 
"These  joints  must  all  be  handed  in  tomorrow 
afternoon  at  three  o'clock."  When  questioned 
about  this  statement  he  said  that  there  would  be  no 


7O  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

difficulty  about  the  matter.  He  was  sure  that 
even  the  slowest  in  the  class  could  get  the  work 
done  by  that  time.  When  asked  what  the  rapid 
pupils  would  do  who  completed  the  work  before 
that  time  he  said.  "They  will  be  excused,  and 
allowed  to  go  to  the  library  or  to  the  drawing 
room  to  do  other  work." 

This  teacher  had  avoided  the  usual  problem  by 
gaging  his  work  to  the  capacity  of  the  slowest 
pupil  and  then  excusing  pupils  as  fast  as  they  com- 
pleted the  required  work.  This  was  no  solution 
of  the  real  problem  because  in  most  schools  teach- 
ers were  required  to  keep  all  their  pupils  and  to 
keep  them  busy  until  the  end  of  the  class  period. 

B  was  a  normal  school.  The  teacher  was  asked 
if  he  had  any  difficulty  in  keeping  his  class  to- 
gether for  class  instruction.  "No,"  he  replied, 
"as  soon  as  the  first  pupil  has  completed  the  given 
model  I  call  the  class  together  and  demonstrate 
the  next  one.  All  go  to  work  on  the  new  model, 
and  the  previous  one  has  to  be  completed  out  of 
regular  class  time — mostly  on  Saturdays."  When 
the  remark  was  dropped  that  some  pupils  might 
need  a  good  many  Saturdays,  he  cheerfully  replied, 
"Yes,  already  some  of  them  have  all  their  Satur- 
days spoken  for  to  the  end  of  the  year."  This 
was  in  the  winter. 

Like  the  teacher  at  A  this  one  had  avoided  the 
real  problem,  but  unlike  the  teacher  at  A,  he  had 


GROUP  METHOD  OF  ORGANIZING  SUBJECT-MATTER     71 

gaged  his  work  by  the  fast  pupil  instead  of  the 
slow  one,  and  thus  accumulated  difficulties  for 
himself  and  his  pupils. 

C  was  an  ordinary  high  school  with  a  manual 
training  annex.  When  the  teacher  was  asked  what 
he  did  with  the  rapid  worker  who  completed  his 
joint  before  the  other  members  of  the  class,  he 
said,  "I  give  him  repair  work  to  do  about  the  shop. 
If  a  bench  needs  fixing,  or  a  belt  needs  lacing,  or 
a  drawer  needs  to  be  planed  off,  I  keep  him  busy 
at  that  till  I  am  ready  to  demonstrate  the  next 
exercise."  "Do  the  boys  like  it?"  he  was  asked, 
"Yes,  they  look  upon  it  as  a  reward  of  merit." 
He  admitted,  however,  that  if  they  ever  ceased 
to  look  upon  such  work  as  desirable,  he  might 
have  some  difficulty  with  his  plan.  In  this  case 
the  personality  of  the  man  was  a  large  factor  in 
the  success  of  the  plan  in  this  particular  school. 

D  was  a  well  organized  grammar  school  center. 
When  the  teacher  was  asked  whether  he  had  ex- 
perienced any  difficulty  in  keeping  his  rapid  pupils 
busy  while  they  were  waiting  for  the  others  to 
catch  up,  so  that  he  could  give  class  instruction  on 
a  new  exercise  or  model,  he  said,  "Last  year  as 
soon  as  the  first  boy  completed  the  first  exercise 
in  the  course  I  gave  him  a  blueprint  of  a  stool 
and  told  him  to  get  out  stock  for  the  legs.  He 
worked  on  that  till  the  demonstration  of  the 
second  exercise  was  given.  He  was  usually  ahead 


72  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

on  the  second  exercise  also,  and  then  did  some 
more  work  on  his  stool.  This  continued  until  the 
end  of  the  year  when  several  of  the  boys  had 
completed  their  stools  besides  all  the  required 
exercises  and  models."  When  asked  whether  the 
plan  was  a  success  he  said,  "Yes,  only  some  of  the 
boys  wished  they  had  never  seen  those  old  stools 
before  the  year  was  out."  The  breaking  off  and 
beginning  over  and  over  again  was  too  severe  a 
strain  on  the  boys'  interest.  "I  have  a  new  plan 
this  year  that  is  working  out  better,"  he  said,  and 
then  showed  some  blueprints  of  exercises  in  chip- 
carving.  "As  soon  as  the  first  boy  is  thru  his  first 
exercise  I  give  him  a  block  of  wood  and  a  blue- 
print, and  tell  him  to  lay  out  the  first  exercise. 
He  can  usually  do  this.  Then  I  show  him  how  to 
cut  out  a  chip,  and  he  proceeds  with  the  work.  It 
doesn't  take  him  long  to  complete  the  first  exer- 
cise; then  he  takes  the  second,  and  so  on.  As  a 
reward  to  the  rapid  pupils,  when  they  come  to  the 
towel  roller,  each  one  carves  a  design  on  it,  while 
the  slow  pupils  finish  theirs  without  the  carving." 

The  teacher  was  asked  whether  he  had  ever 
noticed  that  some  pupils  prefer  the  carving  to  the 
regular  work,  and  so  are  inclined  to  slight  the 
latter  to  get  more  time  for  the  former.  He  said 
he  had.  Likewise  he  admitted  that  some  pre- 
ferred the  regular  work  and  always  managed  to 


GROUP  METHOD  OF  ORGANIZING  SUBJECT-MATTER     73 

slow  up  enough  toward  the  end  of  an  exercise  so 
that  they  would  not  have  to  do  the  carving. 

The  testimonies  of  the  teachers  at  C  and  D 
seemed  to  indicate  that  the  solution  of  the  real 
problem  did  not  lie  in  the  direction  of  doing  two 
kinds  of  work — one  as  the  regular  course  and  the 
other  as  busy  work. 

E  was  a  grammar  grade  center.  In  this  school 
the  teacher  had  come  one  step  nearer  to  finding  a 
solution  of  the  problem.  He  had  arranged  two 
parallel  courses — one  of  exercise  pieces,  and  the 
other  of  useful  models  involving  the  same  proc- 
esses as  the  exercise  pieces:  One  of  these  sug- 
gested a  Russian  course,  the  other  a  Swedish,  tho 
all  the  models  were  thoroly  American  in  design. 
As  soon  as  the  fast  boy  had  completed  an  exer- 
cise he  was  given  the  corresponding  model  in 
the  parallel  course  as  a  supplementary  problem. 
Comparing  this  plan  with  that  of  the  teacher  at 
D,  it  had  the  advantage  over  the  stool  of  not 
requiring  so  much  time  for  completion  and  over 
the  chip-carving  of  being  work  of  the  same  general 
character  as  the  required  exercise.  It  had  the 
added  advantage  of  involving  a  repetition  of  the 
same  processes  as  were  in  the  previous  exercises 
and  of  not  including  any  fundamental  ones  which 
had  not  been  involved  in  some  previous  exercise. 
This  method  of  organizing  the  course,  therefore, 
stimulated  interest,  enabling  a  rapid  pupil  to  ac- 


74  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

quire  increased  skill  and  to  nroduce  useful  articles 
of  a  higher  order 

The  net  results  of  all  these  observations  was 
the  conclusion  that  instead  of  trying  to  devise 
schemes  for  keeping  pupils  together,  an  effort 
should  be  made  to  so  organize  the  work  that 
each  pupil  would  develop  freely  as  an  individual 
while  at  the  same  time  having  the  advantage  of 
class  instruction  in  the  fundamentals  of  the  work. 
Thought  for  the  average  pupil  should  give  way 
to  thought  for  each  individual  pupil.  The  idea 
of  one  fixed  series  of  models  for  all  pupils  should 
give  way  to  the  idea  of  as  many  different  series 
as  there  are  individual  pupils,  yet  so  grouped 
together  as  to  have  common  elements  which  would 
be  subjects  for  class  instruction.  Out  of  this  new 
conception  of  the  teacher's  problem  came  the 
group  method  of  arranging  the  course,  which  was 
first  displayed  by  Teachers  College,  New  York 
City,  at  the  Columbian  Exposition  at  Chicago 
in  1893. 

The  group  method  is  based  on  a  group  analysis 
referred  to  in  the  previous  chapter.  A  course  of 
instruction  is  made  up  of  groups  or  blocks  or 
chapters  of  subject-matter,  usually,  tho  not  neces- 
sarily, arranged  in  sequential  order,  just  as  one 
chapter  in  a  book  usually  follows  naturally  after 
the  preceding  one.  Each  group  must  contain 
one  or  more  of  the  fundamental  elements  of  the 


GROUP  METHOD  OF  ORGANIZING  SUBJECT-MATTER     75 

course  which  forms  the  focus  or  center  of  the 
group.  In  woodworking,  for  example,  one  such 
fundamental  element  might  be  the  construction  of 
a  miter  joint;  the  group  might  be  devoted  to  the 
miter  joint  and  its  applications.  Or  in  mechanical 
drawing  the  fundamental  element  might  be  the 
drawing  of  tangent  lines;  the  group  might  include 
a  large  number  of  problems  involving  the  draw- 
ing of  tangent  lines.  This  fundamental  element 
is  made  the  subject  of  class  instruction. 

Class  instruction  should  also  be  given  on  In- 
formational elements,  which  are  important  for  all 
members  of  the  class,  tho  not  fundamental  to  suc- 
cessful manipulation  of  tools.  Facts  concerning 
materials  and  tools  and  related  processes  in  factor- 
ies, commercial  value  of  materials  and  products, 
etc.,  are  included  in  such  informational  elements. 

Supplementing  this  class  instruction  a  large 
amount  of  individual  instruction  must  be  given. 
Even  after  exercising  all  the  skill  that  the  best 
teacher  possesses  and  utilizing  all  the  help  that 
can  be  gained  from  note-books  and  textbooks  and 
reference  material  of  various  kinds,  the  teacher 
will  still  have  to  give  a  large  proportion  of  his 
time  to  individual  instruction,  and  it  is  important 
that  he  have  time  to  do  this  effectively. 

In  fact,  the  group  method  of  arranging  a  course 
is  intended  to  assist  the  teacher  in  his  management 
of  the  class  so  that  he  will  be  able  to  preserve  the 


76  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

proper  balance  between  class  and  individual  in- 
struction, while  maintaining  the  maximum  of  the 
pupils'  interest  and  their  intelligent  procedure  in 
the  work. 

Working  under  the  group  arrangement,  no  two 
pupils  will  be  likely  to  accomplish  the  same  amount 
of  work,  yet  all  may  readily  pass  the  minimum 
requirement.  No  two  will  work  the  same  combi- 
nation of  problems,  but  each  may  make  the  things 
that  appeal  most  to  him.  One  student  may  do 
work  that  is  far  more  difficult  than  another,  yet 
each  may  be  most  profitably  employed,  and  both 
deserve  the  passing  credit  for  the  course. 

This  is  just  what  happens  in  a  class  in  history: 
Suppose,  for  example,  that  a  history  class  is  study- 
ing the  Civil  War.  One  pupil  learns  the  bare 
facts  of  the  chapter  in  the  textbook;  another  learns 
these  plus  what  he  gained  from  several  other  text- 
books suggested  for  reference;  a  third  pupil  adds 
what  his  uncle,  who  was  a  soldier  in  that  war,  has 
told  him;  a  fourth  has  read  "The  Boys  of  '61," 
by  Charles  Carlton  Coffin;  a  fifth  has  gone  to  the 
public  library  and  searched  out  several  large  his- 
tories and  some  volumes  of  state  papers  published 
during  the  war.  Now  it  is  clear  that  at  the  end 
of  the  chapter  on  the  Civil  War  no  two  of  these 
pupils  know  just  the  same  group  of  facts  about 
the  Civil  War,  but  all  know  enough  to  pass  on 
to  the  next  topic.  Each  has  learned  according  to 
his  interest  or  capacity  or  effort.  Each  may  have 


GROUP  METHOD  OF  ORGANIZING  SUBJECT-MATTER     77 

done  well  for  him.  They  are  not  all  given  the 
same  mark,  but  all  pass. 

A  group  in  a  manual  arts  course  corresponds 
almost  point  for  point  to  this  chapter  in.  history. 
It  is  the  same  flexible,  expansive  mass  of  subject- 
matter.  One  student  may  do  only  the  minimum 
amount  required  to  pass  on  to  the  next  group; 
another  may  complete  a  specified  problem  in  the 
group  that  demands  a  typical  application  of  the 
fundamental  principle  of  the  group  as  it  appears 
in  industry;  another  may  complete  a  specified  prob- 
lem in  the  group  that  stimulates  him  to  look  up 
references  in  books  or  to  make  inquiries  of  indus- 
trial workers  or  to  do  some  experimental  work 
on  his  own  account;  still  another  may  work  out  a 
project  of  his  own  designing  which  applies  the 
principle  of  the  group  to  an  object  for  which  he 
has  a  definite  need. 

To  illustrate  the  group  method  of  organizing 
subject-matter  the  following  outline  by  groups  is 
taken  from  the  author's  book,  Grammar  Grade 
Problems  in  Mechanical  Drawing: 

Group  I.  Horizontal  and  Vertical  Lines  —  Layout  of 
Sheet. 

Group  II.      Horizontal  and  Vertical  Lines — Dash  Lines. 

Group  III.  Inclined  Lines — Foreshortening — Use  of  Tri- 
angles. 

Group  IV.     The  Octagon  and  the  Hexagon. 

Group  V.  .     The  Circle — Center  Lines — Sections. 

Group  VI.     Tangents. 

Group  VII.  Working  Drawings. 


78  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

Another  illustration  of  the  grouping  of  subject- 
matter  is  found  in  the  outline  for  a  course  in  forg- 
ing, published  by  the  Illinois  Manual  Arts  Associ- 
ation in  its  report  of  1 9 1 1 .  It  is  as  follows : 

Group  I.  Drawing  Out — Bending  and  Twisting. 

Group  II.  Upsetting — Splitting. 

Group  III.  Punching — Fullering — Swaging. 

Group  IV.  Welding. 

Group  V.  Case  Hardening. 

Group  VI.  Tool  Making. 

Group  VII.  Hardening  and  Tempering. 

Group  VIII.  Project  involving  Assembling. 

Each  of  the  groups  in  both  of  the  above  courses 
includes  several  problems.  For  example,  Group 
V  in  the  first  course  includes  the  following  objects 
to  be  drawn : 

A,  target;  B,  wheel;  C,  ink  bottle  stand;  D, 
cast  iron  washer;  E,  mallet  head;  F,  collar;  G, 
bushings;  H,  pulley;  I,  roller;  J,  washers;  K, 
emery  wheels;  L,  picture  frame — twelve  prob- 
lems given,  but  more  may  be  added  by  the  teacher 
if  needed.  A  group  is  capable  of  indefinite  ex- 
pansion so  far  as  the  number  of  problems,  or 
applications  of  the  principles  to  be  taught  is  con- 
cerned. 

Referring  now  to  the  method  of  presenting 
these  problems,  A  and  B  are  given  complete;  B 
shows  a  cross-hatched  section.  In  C  the  section  is 
given  complete,  but  the  top  view  is  incomplete. 
In  D  two  views  are  given,  and  the  student  is 


GROUP  METHOD  OF  ORGANIZING  SUBJECT-MATTER     79 

required  to  substitute  a  section  for  one  of  them. 
In  E  three  views  are  given,  but  one  of  them  is 
incomplete.  In  F  two  views  are  given  to  find  a 
third,  which  is  a  sectional  view.  In  G  one  view  of 
each  bushing  is  given  incomplete.  In  H  the  sub- 
stitution of  a  section  for  one  view,  and  the  com- 
pletion of  another,  are  required.  In  I  one  view  is 
incomplete.  In  J  the  problem  is  given  in  the  form 
of  a  sketch  and  a  data  table,  such  as  is  commonly 
used  in  the  drafting  room.  In  K  there  are  really 
four  problems  given  in  the  form  of  sections,  only 
one  of  which  is  intended  to  be  drawn  by  an  indi- 
vidual pupil.  In  L  two  sections  of  circular  picture 
frames  are  given,  from  one  of  which  a  drawing 
is  to  be  made.  If  the  extra  problems  in  K  and  L 
are  counted,  there  are  sixteen  specified  problems 
in  this  group.  It  is  expected  that  each  teacher 
will  add  others  of  his  own  selection  or  of  selections 
made  by  pupils.  With  so  many  and  so  varied 
problems  to  select  from,  the  teacher  ought  to  be 
able  to  meet  all  ordinary  individual  needs,  while 
at  the  same  time  keeping  within  the  range  of  the 
group — without  anticipating  the  next  group,  and 
destroying  the  effectiveness  of  class  instruction  in 
that  group.  With  such  a  group  of  problems,  too, 
a  teacher  may  assign  problems  in  such  a  way  that 
there  will  not  be  the  possibility  of  one  pupil  copy- 
ing from  his  nearest  neighbor,  thus  getting  the 
neighbor  to  do  his  thinking  for  him. 


8o  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

Only  a  small  proportion  of  these  problems 
should  be  required  of  any  one  pupil.  While 
increased  skill  would  be  gained  by  doing  them 
all,  such  skill  might  not  be  an  economical  use  of 
time  for  all  pupils,  and  the  working  out  of  all 
the  problems  by  every  member  of  the  class  would 
defeat  the  very  purpose  of  the  group  method  of 
arrangement.  Instead,  the  teacher  should  deter- 
mine some  kind  of  a  minimum  standard  for  pass- 
ing. It  may  be  a  specified  number  of  drawings 
up  to  an  acceptable  grade;  it  may  be  a  standard 
of  skill  and  intelligence  in  the  work,  without  refer- 
ence to  the  number  of  problems  completed.  In 
the  particular  group  of  drawing  problems  given 
above  the  requirement  might  be  stated  as  "Prob- 
lem A,  one  of  problems  B  to  F,  and  one  of  prob- 
lems G  to  L — three  in  all."  This  would  allow  for 
a  very  considerable  range  of  ability,  and  demand 
at  least  a  fair  standard  of  attainment.  However, 
the  requirement  for  a  given  class  must  depend 
upon  conditions  known  only  to  the  teacher  of  the 
class  or  some  one  giving  close  supervision  to  the 
work. 

Two  very  simple  graphs  have  been  devised  to 
indicate  to  the  pupil  his  individual  progress  and 
success.  One  shows  the  amount  of  work  done 
and  the  other  the  quality. 


GROUP  METHOD  OF  ORGANIZING  SUBJECT-MATTER     81 

Fig.  1  is  a  quantity  diagram.  Area  represents 
work.  The  Figure  ABCD  represents  the  possible 
work  in  a  course  of  study  consisting  of  eight 
groups.  The  areas  are  left  open  at  the  top  be- 
cause the  total  amount  of  work  that  might  be  done 




.__. 

,  



T 

B 

in 

rsr 
Fig 

Y 
.1 

m 

TUL 

Vlll 

in  each  group  is  indefinite.  The  rectangle  EBCF 
represents  the  required  amount  of  work  in  the 
course.  In  this  case  the  figure  assumes  that  the 
same  amount  is  required  in  each  group.  The  line 
GH  represents  the  record  of  one  of  the  students 
in  the  class  who  has  made  most  commendable 
progress.  The  area  GBCH  represents  the  work 
he  has  done  in  the  course,  which  in  quantity  is  more 
than  twice  the  amount  required  for  passing.  The 
line  IJ.  is  the  record  of  a  student  found  in  many 
schools.  He  made  a  brilliant  start,  was  enthusi- 
astic until  the  baseball  season,  when  he  changed 
to  another  hobby  and  ended  the  course  below  the 
required  standard,  though  the  amount  of  work 


82 


THE  MANUAL  ARTS 


accomplished  as  indicated  by  the  area  IBCJ  is 
greater  than  that  included  in  the  minimum  area 
EBCF. 

In  like  manner  the  amount  of  work  accom- 
plished by  each  individual  may  be  represented, 
but,  as  will  be  readily  seen,  the  construction  of 
any  such  graph  requires  that  the  teacher  shall 
have  reasonable  means  of  evaluating  the  quantity 
area  that  shall  be  allowed  for  each  problem  as- 
signed. But  this  kind  of  graph  may  prove  stimu- 
lating, even  when  very  roughly  done. 

The  quality  graph  is  similar  in  some  respects. 
It  is  shown  in  Fig.  2. 


/+^ 

x*— 

m. 

£Z 

-•  V 

r 

^-S 

V 

v2 

*^ 

"V 

V 

I         n        m        TV       3C       "vr       tvn       ^/ut. 

Fig.  2 

The  letters  ABCD  and  E  represent  the  usual 
grades,  the  line  between  D  and  E  being  the  passing 
line.  If  desired,  the  position  in  the  area  can  indi- 
cate whether  a  mark  is  high  or  low,  plus  or  minus, 
as  a  high  C  or  low  C  for  example.  Fig.  2  shows 
the  record  of  one  student  only.  It  is  quite  pos- 
sible for  a  teacher  to  have  a  card  with  the  cross 
lines  as  shown  in  Fig.  2  for  each  student  in  the 
class  and  fill  in  his  record  as  fast  as  work  is  com- 


GROUP  METHOD  OF  ORGANIZING  SUBJECT-MATTER     83 

pleted.  These  can  be  kept  in  card  catalog  form 
and  readily  consulted  at  any  time.  It  is  quite 
possible  for  the  card  to  represent  approximate 
quantity  as  well  as  quality.  For  example,  in  Fig.  3, 


. 

^  — 

-*v 

^ 

i 

^—x 

^^ 

^* 

<<     V 

-f 

^ 

13       us      m>      BZ~2      12      331      3012     ynn 

Fig.  3 

the  small  figures  beside  the  group  numbers  indi- 
cate the  number  of  pieces  of  work  required  in 
each  group.  The  student's  record  shown  on  the 
card  indicates,  by  being  broken,  that  he  has  not 
done  all  required  pieces  of  work.  There  are  two 
short  in  Group  III  and  the  one  in  Group  VIII. 
On  the  other  hand  it  reveals  the  fact  that  he  did 
one  more  than  the  required  number  of  pieces  of 
work  in  Group  II. 

It  should  now  be  evident  that  under  the  group 
arrangement  of  the  subject-matter  of  the  course 
of  instruction  a  class  moves  forward  together 
group  by  group,  yet  each  member  of  the  class 
grows  breadth-wise,  so  to  speak,  within  each  group 
as  an  individual.  Individual  expansion  or  de- 
velopment is  combined  with  class  progress.  While 
the  use  of  this  arrangement  did  not  involve  any 


84  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

new  principle  in  teaching,  it  was  essentially  new 
in  teaching  manual  training  at  the  time  when  the 
"war  between  the  jointers  and  sloyders"  began, 
but  since  that  time  it  has  come  to  be  a  commonly 
applied  device  in  arranging  the  subject-matter  of 
courses  of  instruction  in  the  manual  arts.  More- 
over, it  deals  with  so  many  fundamental  factors 
in  good  teaching  that,  altho  it  originated  in 
courses  taught  for  their  general  educational 
value,  it  is  equally  applicable  to  strictly  vocational 
courses.  It  is  applicable  wherever  there  are  indi- 
vidual differences  in  children  coupled  with  a  desire 
to  give  class  instruction  on  vital  or  common  ele- 
ments in  the  course. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  USE  OF  THE  FACTORY  SYSTEM  IN  TEACHING 
THE  MANUAL  ARTS. 

A  S  one  goes  from  city  to  city  visiting  the  newer 
types  of  industrial  school  shops  it  is  easy  to 
get  the  impression  that  many  advocates  of  voca- 
tional training  think  there  is  special  virtue  in  the 
fact  that  a  school  shop  is  turning  out  a  marketable 
factory  product.  Such  men  seem  to  think  that  all 
that  is  necessary  to  be  done  to  bring  shopwork  up 
to  date  is  to  have  the  boys  manufacture  stools  to 
sell  to  the  local  furniture  dealer  or  study  tables  to 
sell  to  the  Board  of  Education,  or  to  make  the 
equipment  for  a  teachers'  rest  room  in  the  high 
school.  The  inference  seems  to  be  that  the  school 
shop  that  can  do  such  work  must  be  a  superior 
shop;  it  must  be  giving  real  vocational  training. 
On  the  other  hand,  any  person  who  has  had  real 
vocational  experience  in  a  woodworking  shop, 
who  is  acquainted  with  the  processes  of  manufac- 
turing, and  at  the  same  time  is  acquainted  with  the 
processes  of  teaching,  is  well  aware  of  the  fact 
that  it  is  quite  possible  to  get  a  group  of  boys  to 
turn  out  a  salable  product  without  teaching  them 
much  of  anything.  Even  the  factories  can  do 
that.  They  are  doing  it  right  along,  and  it  is 


86  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

because  such  a  factory  system  is  an  educational 
failure  that  schools  for  vocational  training  are 
needed.  The  accomplishment  of  such  a  feat  in  the 
school  is  no  more  guarantee  of  real  vocational  edu- 
cation than  when  the  same  thing  is  done  in  a  fac- 
tory. Merely  turning  out  a  valuable  or  salable 
product  is  no  adequate  criterion  for  a  school  shop. 

A  factory  may  or  may  not  be  a  good  educational 
institution,  depending  upon  the  way  it  is  organized 
and  administered.  If  it  employs  educational 
methods  and  keeps  education  as  the  chief  aim,  it 
may  be  a  good  school;  if  it  makes  material  prod- 
ucts its  sole  aim,  it  is  not  fundamentally  an  educa- 
tional institution  at  all.  A  man  working  in  it  may 
"pick  up"  a  trade  or  a  part  of  a  trade,  but  he 
might  get  much  more  of  the  trade  in  the  same 
length  of  time  were  the  shop  organized  to  teach 
instead  of  to  make  money.  Even  the  large  fac- 
tories are  recognizing  this  fact,  and  the  corpora- 
tion schools  are  teaching  their  apprentices  at  first 
in  a  shop  that  is  either  non-productive  or  nearly  so. 

It  was  with  some  appreciation  of  this  point  of 
view  that  Bradley  Institute,  in  the  year  of  1911, 
set  out  to  discover  thru  actual  experiment  some  of 
the  possibilities  of  utilizing  a  producing  wood- 
working factory  as  a  means  of  teaching  a  vocation 
and  as  further  aid  in  training  teachers  of  voca- 
tional woodworking.  It  was  realized  that  this  was 
not  entirely  a  new  experiment,  for  similar  work 
had  been  carried  on  successfully  at  Hampton  In- 


FACTORY  SYSTEM  IN  TEACHING  MANUAL  ARTS         87 

stitute,  Virginia,  and  in  other  places.  But  the  con- 
ditions at  Bradley  Institute  seemed  favorable  for 
testing  certain  claims  concerning  methods  of  voca- 
tional training  and  the  educative  value  of  factory 
shop  experience. 

To  go  into  all  the  difficulties  encountered  and 
the  means  taken  to  solve  new  problems  would  take 
one  beyond  the  limits  of  the  present  chapter,  but 
it  is  possible  briefly  ( 1 )  to  state  a  few  facts  con- 
cerning the  material  equipment  of  the  shop;  (2) 
to  explain  the  cost  system  adopted;  (3)  to  give  a 
summary  of  the  results  in  manufactured  products; 
(4)  to  state  the  main  facts  concerning  the  organ- 
ization of  the  subject-matter  taught  and  the 
method  of  procedure  in  teaching;  and  (5)  to  give 
a  few  conclusions  based  on  experience. 

The  room  selected  for  the  factory  shop  was  40 
by  100  feet.  It  was  fitted  up  with  the  usual  wood- 
working machinery.  In  arranging  the  machinery 
the  first  consideration  was  facility  in  handling  the 
work.  In  other  words,  the  considerations  were 
chiefly  those  of  equipping  a  commercial  factory. 
The  main  difference  was  in  having  a  long  row  of 
benches  on  one  side  of  the  room,  but  these  were 
inherited  from  a  former  school  shop  and  might 
not  have  been  quite  as  numerous  under  other  con- 
ditions. Also,  some  of  the  machinery  was  in- 
herited, but  that  was  essentially  what  would  have 
been  purchased  if  it  had  not  been  already  on  hand. 


88  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

There  was  one  entirely  new  feature  of  the  equip- 
ment which  was  looked  upon  as  essential  in  any 
school  shop  that  adopts  factory  methods,  and  that 
was  the  trucks  for  storing  and  carrying  material 
in  process  of  manufacture.  Whenever  one  goes  to 
a  school  woodworking  shop  that  claims  to  be  giv- 
ing vocational  instruction  by  factory  methods,  he 
should  at  once  look  for  the  trucks.  If  woodwork- 
ing machinery  is  there  and  the  trucks  are  not,  he 
may  begin  to  question  in  his  own  mind  whether  he 
is  in  a  vocational  shop  or  in  a  manual  training 
shop.  In  other  words,  the  truck  has  come  to  be 
the  symbol  of  the  woodworking  factory  shop.  It 
would  be  difficult  to  conceive  of  modern  factory 
methods  being  carried  out  in  a  real  way  where  no 
such  trucks  are  available.  This,  then,  is  a  sum- 
mary of  the  factory  shop  equipment:  machines  in 
sufficient  number,  with  plenty  of  trucks,  and  all  so 
arranged  that  there  is  sufficient  space  around  the 
machines  for  the  placing  of  the  trucks,  and  a  clear 
aisle  for  trundling  the  trucks  of  material  from  one 
part  of  the  shop  to  another.  To  this  should,  of 
course,  be  added  the  statement  that  the  machines 
must  be  so  arranged  that  a  job  may  be  routed  with- 
out undue  waste  of  time  in  going  from  one  ma- 
chine to  another. 

No  school  can  afford  to  maintain  a  woodwork- 
ing factory  without  disposing  of  its  products  in 
such  a  way  as  to  pay  for  the  material  used.  This 
becomes  a  problem  because  a  woodworking  fac- 


FACTORY  SYSTEM  IN  TEACHING  MANUAL  ARTS         89 

tory  requires  a  large  amount  of  lumber  to  keep  it 
busy.  Some  schools  can  find  a  market  for  their 
school  factory  products  in  their  own  institution; 
others  will  find  it  necessary  to  seek  a  market  for 
at  least  a  part  of  their  products.  Bradley  Institute 
has  pursued  the  latter  course.  It  manufactures 
for  its  own  use,  and  then  sells  to  other  schools  a 
limited  quantity  of  products,  such  as  drawing 
boards,  workbenches,  drawing  tables,  cabinets, 
samples  of  wood,  mitered  table  legs,  and  cases  for 
unfinished  work.  It  also  does  occasional  special 
jobs  by  contract,  when  they  are  needed  to  keep  up 
a  sufficient  supply  and  the  requisite  variety  of 
work. 

In  order  to  handle  all  this  work  in  an  intelligent 
and  businesslike  way  a  cost  system  was  adopted. 
Before  adopting  this,  however,  several  systems 
were  studied,  and  finally  a  very  simple  one  was 
decided  upon.  The  blanks  used  are,  first,  the  shop 
order  sheet,  Fig.  4,  which  is  made  out  in  the  busi- 
ness office  of  the  Department  of  Manual  Arts  and 
forwarded  with  the  drawing  or  other  specifications 
to  the  teacher  in  charge  of  the  factory  shop.  These 
order  forms  in  duplicate  are  made  up  in  books. 
The  original  is  on  a  white  sheet;  the  carbon  dupli- 
cate is  on  a  pink  sheet  and  remains  in  the  order 
book  as  an  office  record. 

When  the  job  is  completed  the  teacher  sends  to 
the  office  a  cost  sheet,  Fig.  5.  The  order  number 
corresponds  with  the  number  on  the  shop  order 


90                               THE  MANUAL  ARTS 
SHOP  ORDER  No 


Date  of  Issue- 


To Department, 

Under  the  Supervision  of 


Have  the  following  work  done,  and  a  memorandum  of  cost  (time 
and  materials  in  separate  items)  sent  to  this  office. 

It  should  be  completed 


Signed. 


BRADLCY  POLYTECHNIC  INSTITUTE     DEPARTMENT  OF  MANUAL 
SHOP  ORDER  SHEET. 

Fig.  4 


FACTORY  SYSTEM  IN  TEACHING  MANUAL  ARTS        91 

SHOP  ORDER  NO. 
FOR 


LABOR: 

Class  A,. 

"  B,_ 

"  C,_ 

"  DI- 

"  EI_ 

"  F,_ 

"  0,_ 

"  H,_ 

MATERIALS: 


Date  of  Report . 
Mad*  by 


BHADLIY  POLYTECHNIC  INSTITUTE.    DIPARTMENT  or  MANUAL  AUTO 
COST  SHEET. 

Fig.  5 


92  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

sheet.  The  labor  is  classified  strictly  according  to 
commercial  value,  or  as  near  to  that  as  the  teacher 
can  estimate.  Class  A  represents  an  expert  work- 
man, usually  the  teacher,  working  at  a  machine. 
Class  B  represents  an  expert  workman  working  at 
the  bench.  Class  C  represents  a  good  workman — 

ORDER  WORKMAN  DATE 

START  FINISH  TIME 


Fig.  6.    Time  Slip 

one  of  the  strongest  students — and  a  machine; 
Class  D  represents  a  good  workman  at  the  bench. 
And  so  the  labor  is  graded  down  to  G  and  H, 
which  stand  for  work  of  the  "helper"  grade. 
Each  of  these  grades  has  a  corresponding  money 
value,  which  is  used  in  completing  each  labor  item 
on  the  sheet  after  it  has  been  sent  to  the  office. 
Materials  are  reported  in  similar  detail.  These 
items  added,  together  with  any  extra  office  charge, 
give  the  total  cost  of  the  job.  As  in  many  modern 
factories,  these  cost  items  are  figured  so  as  to  per- 
mit of  the  usual  trade  discounts. 

The  time  slip  used  is  shown  in  Fig.  6.  This  is 
printed,  four  on  a  sheet,  with  perforations  be- 
tween each.  It  is  essentially  a  copy  of  a  time  slip 
which  has  been  in  successful  use  for  many  years 


FACTORY  SYSTEM  IN  TEACHING  MANUAL  ARTS         93 

in  certain  woodworking  factories  in  New  England. 
The  workman  makes  out  a  separate  slip  for  each 
order  worked  on  during  the  day,  and  therefore 
hands  in  as  many  slips  each  day  as  there  are  jobs 
worked  on.  The  teacher  on  receiving  them  mere- 
ly sees  that  the  total  is  correct  for  the  day  and 
marks  the  classification  on  each  slip  as  C,  F,  etc. 
Then  he  tears  the  slips  apart,  if  still  fastened  to- 
gether, and  hangs  them  on  hooks  for  the  purpose, 
one  hook  for  each  order,  or  he  groups  them  in  a 
drawer  or  box,  as  seems  to  him  to  be  convenient. 
When  the  job  is  done  he  summarizes  the  slips  and 
puts  the  totals  on  the  cost  sheet,  Fig.  5.  This 
sheet  is  made  in  duplicate  as  was  the  case  with  the 
shop  order  sheets,  so  that  a  carbon  copy  is  kept  by 
the  teacher.  In  this  case,  however,  the  original 
is  a  yellow  sheet  and  the  duplicate  a  white  one. 
The  colors  add  to  the  convenience  in  handling, 
especially  in  the  Department  office.  When  the 
system  was  first  started,  material  slips  similar  to 
the  time  slips  were  used,  but  now  stock  bills  made 
out  by  the  workmen  or  a  sub-foreman  or  by  the 
teacher,  as  the  case  may  be,  are  substituted  for 
these  slips  in  keeping  a  record  of  the  material  for 
a  given  job. 

The  cost  sheets  in  the  Department  office  serve 
in  making  out  bills,  in  making  financial  statements 
of  the  shopwork,  and  in  estimating  future  jobs. 

The  first  shop  order  issued  under  this  system 
was  on  Jan.  16,  1912.  Between  that  date  and 


94  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

Sept.  1,  1912,  work  was  completed  to  the  value 
of  about  $800.  The  reports  for  the  next  three 
years  give  the  following  figures : 

Year  ending  Sept.  1,  1913.  .$1,595.11 
Year  ending  Sept.  1,  1914..  2,052.81 
Year  ending  Sept.  1,  1915..  1,475.11 

In  making  up  the  above  figures  a  discount  was 
taken  off  of  all  items  not  sold  for  cash,  so  that  the 
figures  are  well  within  the  actual  value.  Among 
the  products  sold  for  cash  were  drawing  tables  for 
a  local  public  school,  rural  school  benches,  play- 
ground slide  and  teeter-totter  for  a  children's 
home,  a  variety  of  furniture,  drawing  boards, 
study  tables,  bench-hooks,  bread  rack  for  a  bakery, 
case  of  small  drawers,  stock  for  school  use,  etc. 
For  the  use  of  other  departments  of  the  Institute 
there  were  made  a  spring  board,  trestles,  bleach- 
ers, etc.,  for  the  gymnasium;  benches  and  table  for 
the  horology  school;  and  tables,  bookcases,  and 
chart  cases  for  several  other  departments.  For 
the  Manual  Arts  Department  there  has  been  made 
a  large  volume  of  work,  including  individual  lock- 
ers for  drawing  room,  drawing  tables,  interlocking 
drawing  board  cabinets,  coat  lockers,  exhibit 
frames,  foundry  equipment,  work-benches,  tool 
cabinets,  tables,  furniture,  drawing  boards,  T- 
squares,  wood  pulleys,  and  many  more. 

The  man  employed  as  teacher  in  the  factory 
shop  had  taught  very  little  before  taking  charge  of 


FACTORY  SYSTEM  IN  TEACHING  MANUAL  ARTS        95 

this  shop,  but  during  thirteen  years  of  practical 
experience  he  had  come  in  contact  with  the  real 
problems  of  carpentry  and  millwork  and  pattern 
making.  He  therefore  approached  the  problem 
from  the  vocation,  and  not  from  the  school  stand- 
point. During  the  first  year  he  was  working  under 
the  supervision  of  a  man  with  many  years  of  ex- 
perience in  teaching  manual  training  classes  in 
woodworking.  The  aim  of  both  men  was,  first,  to 
organize  a  real  producing  factory,  admitting  a 
comparatively  few  students,  and  then,  little  by 
little,  to  solve  the  problems  of  giving  instruction 
as  they  came  along  in  the  natural  order  of  devel- 
opment. It  took  comparatively  little  time  to  es- 
tablish the  factory  routine,  but  it  has  taken  much 
more  time  to  determine  the  most  effective  organ- 
ization of  subject-matter  and  the  best  methods  of 
giving  instruction.  In  making  decisions  it  has  been 
necessary  to  keep  two  facts  constantly  in  mind: 
First,  that  the  aim  of  the  shop  is  to  teach  and  not 
to  make  money;  and,  second,  that  the  factory 
routine  and  factory  methods  of  doing  work  are  an 
essential  part  of  the  educational  scheme  and  must 
therefore  be  retained.  The  big  problem,  then,  has 
been  to  harmonize  the  educational  aim,  namely, 
to  produce  intelligent,  thoroly  trained  workmen, 
and  the  factory  routine,  which  is  intended  to  pro- 
duce high-grade  manufactured  products  at  a  speed 
that  is  acceptable  in  a  commercial  factory. 


96  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

After  three  and  one-half  years  of  experiment- 
ing, the  scheme  of  training,  or  the  course  of  in- 
struction, may  be  outlined  as  follows : 

Group  A.  Before  any  student  is  allowed  to  use 
the  machines  of  the  shop,  or  any  one  machine,  a 
series  of  demonstrations  is  given  to  acquaint  the 
members  of  the  class  with  the  construction  and 
operation  of  the  machines.  Minute  instruction 
concerning  the  positions  to  be  taken  in  working  at 
each  machine  is  given,  and  emphasis  is  placed  on 
precautions  to  be  taken  in  order  to  avoid  acci- 
dents. 

Group  B.  The  first  real  experience  at  the  ma- 
chines is  in  getting  out  stock  and  such  other  rough 
work  as  will  give  experience  in  the  use  of  the  cut- 
off saw,  the  jointer,  and  the  surfacer.  The  time 
spent  in  such  work  varies,  with  the  student,  from 
ten  days,  four  hours  a  day,  to  two  months,  accord- 
ing to  his  ability.  The  average  time  is  about  six 
weeks.  During  this  period  it  is  expected  that 
every  student  will  be  taught  to  measure  lumber 
and  identify  a  few  of  the  common  woods,  both  in 
the  rough  and  surfaced. 

Group  C.  As  soon  as  the  students  have  proven 
their  reliability  in  the  rough  work  they  are  taken 
off,  one  or  two  at  a  time,  and  started  on  the  second 
type  of  work.  This  consists  of  making  three  or 
more  joints  from  models  given  to  the  students. 
From  the  commercial  factory  standpoint  this  work 
is  entirely  non-productive,  but  experiments  seem 


FACTORY  SYSTEM  IN  TEACHING  MANUAL  ARTS        97 

to  have  proven  conclusively  that  it  is  really  a  time 
saver  and  a  lumber  saver.  It  usually  occupies 
from  four  to  seven  days  and  it  prevents  wasting 
many  feet  of  lumber.  The  joints  required  of  all 
are  (a)  a  panel  joint,  (b)  glass  door  joint,  or  rab- 
beted mortise-and-tenon  joint,  and  (c)  table  leg 
joint.  Others  that  are  often  added  to  this  list  are 
the  sash  joint,  the  table  leaf  joint  (made  later  in 
the  course  when  the  student  is  allowed  to  use  the 
shaper),  the  stretcher  joint,  etc.  The  joints  are 
kept  by  the  students  for  reference.  The  experi- 
ence gained  in  this  type  of  work  seems  to  be  of 
great  value  in  thinking  out  the  parts  of  a  structure 
in  their  relation  to  each  other,  and  it  helps  to  de- 
velop an  appreciation  of  the  importance  of  ac- 
curacy in  setting  the  machines. 

Group  D.  The  third  type  of  work  consists  of 
small  panel  doors,  glass  doors,  backs  of  cases  and 
such  other  work  of  about  the  same  grade  of  diffi- 
culty as  may  be  available.  Here,  as  elsewhere 
thruout  the  course,  the  students  are  promoted  in- 
dividually from  one  type  of  work  to  another,  the 
basis  of  promotion  being  dependent  on  reliability 
in  doing  a  thoro  piece  of  work  in  a  reasonable 
length  of  time,  judged  by  the  standard  of  the  com- 
mercial factory.  During  this  period  each  student 
makes  a  sketch  of  the  piece  he  is  making,  and  pre- 
pares a  stock  bill.  This  sketch  is  often  made  from 
a  blueprint  or  drawing  of  the  structure  of  which 
he  is  making  a  part.  Often  the  problem  involves 


98  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

many  duplicates,  and  two  or  more  students  work 
together  on  a  job  so  as  to  do  the  work  most  ef- 
ficiently. This  type  of  work  occupies  about  one 
month. 

Group  E.  The  fourth  type  of  work  occupies 
the  remainder  of  the  first  year,  and  consists  of 
construction  and  assembly  work.  This  often  re- 
quires one  student  to  make  a  complete  case  from 
beginning  to  end,  or  the  problems  in  hand  may  be 
such  as  to  require  that  two  or  more  students  work 
together.  Sometimes  there  are  many  duplicate 
parts  to  be  worked,  and  sometimes  there  are  but 
few.  The  student  makes  a  sketch  of  each  part  of 
the  structure  he  is  making  and  puts  the  working 
dimensions  on  it.  If  a  student  has  special  ability 
he  may  be  given  charge  of  a  complex  job  and  sub- 
divide it,  thus  laying  out  work  for  several  students 
in  different  stages  of  skill.  The  assembling  will 
later  be  done  by  the  student  who  laid  out  the  work, 
acting  as  a  sub-foreman.  During  this  period  of 
work  students  get  experience  in  wood-finishing  and 
are  given  thoro  instruction  in  the  proper  use  of 
glue,  and  in  the  handling  of  gluing  apparatus. 
They  are  taught  the  sharpening  and  use  of  the 
hand  scraper;  saw-filing  is  begun.  They  are  also 
taught  the  economical  use  of  lumber,  which  in- 
volves maintaining  an  organized  system  of  caring 
for  and  utilizing  scrap  pieces.  Scraps  are  classi- 
fied, sometimes  by  sizes,  sometimes  by  their  use. 


FACTORY  SYSTEM  IN  TEACHING  MANUAL  ARTS        99 

Group  F.  The  fifth  type  of  work  is  in  many 
respects  a  continuation  of  the  fourth,  except  that 
the  work  is  done  in  harder  and  more  valuable 
woods,  requiring  more  accurate  results.  Such 
problems  as  an  oak  cabinet  or  the  interior  finish 
and  casework  for  an  office  belong  in  this  stage. 
It  is  in  this  stage  that  most  of  the  students  hope 
for  an  opportunity  to  act  for  a  while  as  a  sub- 
foreman.  In  this  stage  the  most  reliable  students, 
and  those  only,  are  allowed  to  run  the  shaper.  All 
students  in  this  stage  are  required  to  make  at  least 
one  wood  pulley,  and  to  get  some  experience  in 
belting  work  and  the  elements  of  millwrighting. 
Special  jobs  involving  templet  work  are  included, 
circular-saw  filing  and  band-saw  filing  and  braz- 
ing are  taught,  and  before  the  end  of  the  course 
some  problems  in  estimating  are  given.  Thruout 
the  entire  two-year  course  there  are  occasional 
class  demonstrations,  lectures,  and  discussions,  but 
in  the  work  at  the  machines  the  students  are  as- 
signed according  to  individual  efficiency  and  held 
up  to  a  commercial  standard  of  accuracy,  and  ap- 
proximately up  to  a  commercial  standard  of  speed 
when  actually  working  at  the  machines. 

The  result  of  the  three  and  one-half  years  of 
development  is  gratifying.  While  there  are  many 
things  yet  to  be  learned  about  the  new  problems 
involved  in  maintaining  such  a  school  factory  on 
a  sound  educational  and  economic  basis,  enough 


ioo  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

has  been  learned  to  state  the  following  as  con- 
clusions : 

( 1 )  That  school  work  in  a  factory  shop  must 
be  organized  with  reference  to  teaching  as  well  as 
with  reference  to  producing.     Such  organization 
is  necessary  if  instruction  is  to  be  efficient,  and 
economical  of  the  learner's  time. 

(2)  The  non-productive  work  has  a  place  in 
the  school  factory  shop — even  exercise  pieces  pure 
and  simple. 

(3)  That  it  is  practicable,    under    favorable 
conditions,  to  operate  a  school  shop  under  the  fac- 
tory system,  but  the  factory  system  should  not  be 
allowed  to  prevent  the  instructor  from  stopping 
the  work  of  any  number  of  students  at  any  time  to 
give  class  or  group  instruction.     The  producing 
purpose  of  the  factory  shop  must  give  way  to  the 
instruction  purpose. 

(4)  That  a  school  factory  shop  may  be  organ- 
ized in  such  a  way  as  to  be  a  superior  educational 
workshop,  giving  the  most  practical  kind  of  in- 
struction  with    a   high    degree   of   thoroness   by 
methods  that  are  sound  pedagogically  and  that 
call  forth  a  high  type  of  interest  on  the  part  of 
students. 

It  seems  to  have  been  demonstrated  that  in  the 
advanced  stages  of  vocational  training,  after  a 
good  grounding  in  manual  training  work,  experi- 
ence in  a  producing  factory  is  highly  educative, 
provided  a  reasonable  variety  of  work  is  done. 


FACTORY  SYSTEM  IN  TEACHING  MANUAL  ARTS       101 

This  has  been  proven  in  manufacturing  establish- 
ments and  in  producing  factories  in  schools,  such 
as  the  one  above.  It  seems  also  to  have  been 
demonstrated  that  in  the  earliest  stages  of  shop 
instruction,  whether  that  instruction  be  with  strict 
vocational  end  in  view  or  merely  with  a  prevoca- 
tional  or  a  manual  training  end  as  the  goal,  ex- 
perience in  a  producing  factory  is  not  as  educative 
as  experience  under  proper  instruction  in  a  school 
shop,  tho  certain  school  problems  in  duplicate  pro- 
duction, both  by  hand  and  machine,  are  valuable 
in  the  school  shop.  As  proof  of  the  general  state- 
ment it  would  seem  necessary  only  to  cite  cases 
where  factories  have  provided  apprentice  schools 
with  special  rooms  for  the  beginners  to  learn  the 
elements  of  handwork  thru  graded  courses  of  les- 
sons designed  to  give  apprentices  the  fundamentals 
in  the  best  way.  The  factories  have  found  this 
way  to  be  the  cheapest  in  the  long  run. 

Some  figures  gathered  by  Mark  B.  Hughes,  of 
Detroit,  for  a  report  to  the  National  Association 
of  Corporation  Schools  are  significant.  To  the 
question,  "Do  you  believe  manufacturers  would  be 
sufficiently  benefited  to  warrant  the  expense  of  es- 
tablishing apprenticeship  or  corporation  schools?" 
38  of  the  large  corporations  in  the  country,  includ- 
ing 11  of  the  largest  railroads  and  many  great 
factories  such  as  the  General  Electric  Co.,  The 
Westinghouse  Electric  and  Manufacturing  Co., 
The  Western  Electric  Co.,  Browne  and  Sharpe 


loa  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

Manufacturing  Co.,  and  R.  R.  Donnelly  &  Sons 
Co.  answered  "Yes."  There  was  not  a  single 
"No"  vote  and  only  one  voted  with  a  question 
mark.  To  the  question,  "Do  you  favor  a  special 
mechanical  instructor  or  allowing  the  shop  fore- 
man to  do  all  the  instructing?"  Thirty  answered 
in  favor  of  the  special  instructor,  5  the  shop  fore- 
man, and  2  both. 

Anyone  who  has  visited  such  a  school  as  the  one 
at  the  Lakeside  Press  in  Chicago  must  be  im- 
pressed with  the  fact  that  both  the  boy  and  the 
factory  are  profiting  by  separating  the  apprentices 
from  the  journeymen  during  the  early  stages  of 
their  apprenticeship  and  giving  them  work  which 
is  for  the  most  part  unproductive,  except  educa- 
tionally. The  factory  training  which  follows  this 
preliminary  school  is  equally  essential  in  making 
the  finished  workman. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THREE  TYPICAL  METHODS  OF  TEACHING  THE 
MANUAL  ARTS. 

BUT  of  the  experiences  of  the  past  thirty 
years  of  school  instruction  in  the  manual 
arts,  there  have  come  three  more  or  less  distinct 
and  fundamental  methods  of  teaching,  namely, 
(1)  the  imitative  method,  (2)  the  discovery 
method,  and  (3)  the  inventive  method. 

Briefly  stated  the  imitative  method  is  as  follows : 
Show  the  pupil  how  to  do  something  by  doing  it 
in  his  presence.  Explain  to  him  every  step  in  the 
process  which  he  does  not  already  know.  Tell 
him  why  each  step  should  be  taken  in  a  certain 
way.  Explain  any  theory  involved;  answer  his 
questions.  Then  tell  him  to  do  it  himself.  This 
method  is  the  method  of  demonstration;  it  is  de- 
ductive. It  applies  equally  well  to  both  class  and 
individual  instruction. 

In  sharp  contrast  with  the  imitative  is  the  dis- 
covery method.  In  this  the  teacher  shows  the 
pupil  the  completed  thing  he  is  expected  to  make, 
but  not  the  process  of  making  it.  He  gives  him 
the  tools  but  does  not  show  him  how  to  use  them. 
No  demonstration  lessons  are  given.  Instead, 
he  asks  him  to  tell  how  he  proposes  to  use  the 
tools,  and  by  what  process  he  expects  to  produce 


IO4  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

the  object.  The  teacher  stimulates  him  to  think. 
Exercising  his  curiosity  and  his  resourcefulness,  he 
is  expected  to  discover,  or  rather,  to  re-discover 
the  correct  methods  of  using  tools.  The  reasoning 
is  largely  inductive.  The  instruction  is  almost  ex- 
clusively individual.  In  the  imitative  method  the 
teacher  tells  or  shows  the  pupil  almost  everything; 
in  the  discovery  method  the  teacher  tells  or  shows 
him  nothing.  The  teacher's  constant  effort  in  the 
discovery  method  is  to  develop  rational  thinking 
and  this,  he  believes,  will  lead  to  good  technic. 
He  assumes  that  there  is  a  discoverable,  rational 
best  way  to  do  everything. 

The  inventive  method  is  different  from  both  the 
imitative  and  the  discovery  methods  in  that  it  be- 
gins, not  with  something  planned  ready  to  make 
and  materials  all  selected,  but  with  a  conscious 
need  for  something  to  serve  a  known  purpose  and 
a  desire  to  make  something  to  supply  that  need. 
The  procedure  by  this  method  is,  first,  to  know 
definitely  the  conditions  to  be  met  by  the  thing  to 
be  made,  second,  to  invent  or  design  the  thing  to 
fulfill  the  conditions,  third,  to  select  materials  and 
make  the  thing  designed.  From  beginning  to  end 
the  mind  is  centered  on  the  thing  being  made  and 
whether  it  will  serve  its  purpose;  the  process  of 
producing  the  thing,  which  in  both  the  imitative 
and  the  discovery  methods  is  given  greatest  em- 
phasis, is  here  given  secondary  consideration. 
The  instruction  is  largely  individual,  tho  the 


THREE  TYPICAL  METHODS  OF  TEACHING  MANUAL  ARTS  105 

problem  may  be  presented  and  discussed  in  class. 
It  consists  in  supplying  ideas  from  which  the  pupil 
may  choose  ;  it  stimulates  original  thinking  by 
questioning,  by  criticism,  and  by  the  statement  and 
exposition  of  laws  and  principles. 

I  —  THE  IMITATIVE  METHOD. 

Imitation  is  instinctive,  and  the  teacher  who 
does  not  utilize  this  natural  force  fails  to  avail 
himself  of  one  of  his  strongest  allies.  Writers  on 
psychology  have  made  this  clear.  Professor  Bag- 
ley  says,  "It  seems  to  be  a  fundamental  law  of 
psycho-physics  that  an  idea  or  a  perception  always 
tends  to  work  itself  out  in  action;  the  child's  con- 
crete experience  of  witnessing  a  given  process  is 
applied  instinctively  in  repetition  of  that  proc- 
ess." 1  Professor  Thorndike  points  out  that  one 
of  the  chief  dangers  in  teaching  the  doing  of  things 
is  neglect  of  imitation.  He  says:  "Young  chil- 
dren rarely,  if  ever,  learn  well  such  things  as  how 
to  hold  a  pen  or  to  cut  or  to  sew  by  being  told  how; 
they  have  to  be  shown  how."  "  This  is  in  accord 
with  the  experience  of  every  teacher  of  handwork; 
he  knows  that  the  easiest  and  quickest  way  to  get 
a  boy  to  hold  and  use  a  tool  correctly  is  to  show 
him  how  to  do  it.  Often  it  is  not  necessary  to 
speak  a  word;  to  do  the  thing  in  his  presence  is 


The  Educative  Process  ,  page  239. 
2Thorndike:  The  Principles  of  Teaching,  page  221. 


ic6  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

sufficient.  Again,  Professor  Bagley  says,  "The 
process  of  habit  forming,  once  started  by  imita- 
tion, goes  on  by  what  may  be  called  the  method  of 
trial  and  error.  *  *  *  All  school  activities 
that  we  group  under  the  head  of  manual  training 
(including  writing,  drawing,  sloyd,  etc.)  and 
moral  training  (cleanliness,  industry,  silence,  etc.) 
are  important  from  this  point  of  view.  Here  the 
aim  is  to  train  the  muscles  to  certain  specific  adjust- 
ments, and  the  only  way  in  which  this  can  be  done 
is  by  imitation,  trial  and  error,  and  persistent  prac- 
tice. The  task  of  the  teacher  is  to  provide  a  good 
model  in  the  first  place,  and  then  to  keep  the  child 
constantly  returning  to  the  process,  frequently 
comparing  the  results  of  his  work  with  the  model, 
until  proficiency  results."1  If  we  can  accept  this 
as  fact,  then  the  imitative  method  is  fundamental 
in  all  manual  arts  teaching. 

In  this  connection,  however,  it  may  be  noted 
that  imitation,  being  an  instinct,  does  not  need  de- 
velopment; it  needs  to  be  utilized  or  transformed 
or  even  eliminated,  for  only  the  desirable,  the 
good  should  be  imitated;  the  undesirable  and  bad 
should  be  eliminated,  and  imitation  should  be  held 
in  check  in  this  direction.  The  child  imitates  what 
he  admires,  and  so  the  teacher's  opportunity  lies 
in  the  direction  of  helping  the  child  to  admire 
skill  and  good  proportions  and  fine  finish  and 
graceful  curves  and  all  the  other  good  qualities 
that  are  essential  to  fine  craftsmanship. 
Bagley:  The  Educative  Process,  page  ^43. 


THREE  TYPICAL  METHODS  OF  TEACHING  MANUAL  ARTS  107 

II — THE  DISCOVERY  METHOD. 

The  discovery  method  is  often  spoken  of  as 
the  heuristic  method.  This  word  "heuristic"  comes 
from  a  Greek  word  which  means  to  "find  out." 
According  to  Professor  De  Garmo  this  method 
involves  (a)  the  discovery  of  the  essential  facts 
of  a  lesson  and  (b)  the  cause  of  a  phenomenon  or 
the  law  governing  it.  In  this  method  the  teacher 
surrounds  the  child  with  apparatus  and  atmos- 
phere favorable  to  certain  discoveries  and  expects 
him  to  make  the  discovery.  In  its  application  to 
the  teaching  of  the  manual  arts  this  method  has 
found  its  most  ardent  advocate  in  Charles  Bird, 
Supervisor  of  Manual  Training  in  Leicester,  Eng- 
land. With  him  it  is  largely  a  reaction  against  the 
machine-like  method  of  extreme  imitative  teach- 
ing which  leads  to  automatic  action  but  fails  to 
develop  the  thought  power.  In  discussing  his 
method  Mr.  Bird  says : 

"It  will  hardly  be  denied  that  the  normal  child 
possesses  in  a  marked  degree  such  characteristics 
as  curiosity,  inquisitiveness,  a  love  of  prying  into 
things,  of  questioning  and  doubting,  which  are 
frequently  amusing  and  sometimes  embarrassing. 
Of  his  originality,  adaptability,  resourcefulness, 
and  independence  there  can  be  no  possible  doubt. 
It  is  these  characteristics,  so  pre-eminent  in  their 
importance  as  assets  in  after  life,  which  a  reason- 
able system  of  educational  handwork  can  stimu- 


io8  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

late  and  strengthen.  It  is  greatly  to  be  feared 
these  characteristics  have  not  been  strengthened 
but  rather  weakened  by  the  educational  method  of 
the  past. 

"For  this  purpose  the  children  must  be  allowed 
to  depend  upon  their  own  thought  and  judgment 
in  doing  things.  If  the  work  given  be  interesting 
in  character,  and  not  too  difficult  for  mind  and 
hand  to  fashion,  surely  the  children  may  be  al- 
lowed to  exercise  their  whole  powers  upon  it  with- 
out let  or  hindrance;  the  cause  is  discoverable,  and 
it  is  the  business  of  the  teacher  to  see  that  the 
children  discover  it.  Let  the  children  see,  think, 
and  do ;  later  may  possibly  be  time  for  explanation, 
surely  not  before.  *  *  * 

"There  is  a  discoverable  reason  why  one 
method  is  better  than  another,  if  it  be  better;  one 
tool  more  adapted  to  the  purpose  in  hand  than 
another,  etc.  If  we  wish  the  children  to  develop 
a  reasonable  judgment  in  all  things,  as  we  surely 
do,  we  must  on  no  account  discover  for  them 
what  they  can  discover  for  themselves.  And 
what  can  they  not  discover? 

"Uniformity  of  method — in  other  words,  the 
teacher's  method — is  not  even  desirable.  What 
is  wanted  is  that  each  child  find  its  own  method. 
If  the  children  reveal  themselves,  the  teacher  can 
act  from  sure  knowledge  of  strengths  and  weak- 
nesses, of  needs  and  necessities.  Otherwise,  if  the 
teacher  supplies  the  method,  the  children  are 


THREE  TYPICAL  METHODS  OF  TEACHING  MANUAL  ARTS  109 

robbed  of  their  natural  inquisitiveness  and  curi- 
osity, and  may  become  mere  storehouses  of  dead 
information.  A  little  patience  and  a  cheerful  man- 
ner are  all  that  are  required  to  bring  out  the  innate 
courage  and  capacity  of  the  children,  and  cause 
them  to  attack  their  work  with  an  intelligence,  a 
vim,  and  a  vigor  delightful  to  observe." 

In  seeking  to  avoid  the  weaknesses  of  the  imi- 
tative method  the  discovery  method  almost 
ignores  a  fundamental  principle  of  habit  forma- 
tion, which  is  intended  to  avoid  the  formation  of 
bad  habits  that  must  later  be  inhibited  if  good 
habits  are  to  control.  The  study  of  a  class  at 
work  under  this  system  is  sufficient  to  convince  one 
that  it  emphasizes  individual  differences  in  chil- 
dren unduly.  The  pupils  who  come  to  the  class 
prepared  to  think  logically  go  ahead  rapidly,  while 
those  who  have  not  that  preparation  and  need  the 
more  fundamental  imitative  basis  for  their  work 
go  very  slowly.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  such  pupils 
do  imitate  instead  of  think  out  the  process.  They 
have  to ;  they  have  no  power  to  do  otherwise.  If 
they  are  not  allowed  to  imitate  the  correct  method 
of  the  teacher  they  will  imitate  the  incorrect 
method  of  the  nearest  fellow  student,  or  if  oppor- 
tunity presents  itself,  of  the  student  whom  they 
know  to  be  one  of  the  best  workmen  in  the  class. 
The  imitation  will  take  place  whether  the  teacher 
wants  it  to  or  not.  In  this  respect  the  discovery 
theory  cannot  be  strictly  carried  out  in  practice 


no  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

unless  pupils  are  isolated.  Moreover,  it  has  a 
tendency  to  discourage  the  pupil  who  has  not  de- 
veloped sufficient  reasoning  power.  With  all  such 
students  it  is  uneconomical  of  time  and  effort  both 
on  the  part  of  the  pupil  and  the  teacher.  On  the 
other  hand  it  does  have  certain  advantages,  which 
have  been  pointed  out  by  Mr.  Bird. 


III. — THE  INVENTIVE  METHOD. 

From  the  standpoint  of  ultimate  results  the  in- 
ventive method  stands  higher  than  the  imitative 
because  an  inventor  is  regarded  as  more  Valuable 
to  society  than  a  mere  imitator.  On  the  other 
hand,  society  has  need  for  many  more  routine 
skilled  workers  than  inventors.  In  our  present  in- 
dustrial organization  most  men  must  follow  in- 
structions; they  must  read  a  blueprint  and  produce 
work  to  given  dimensions;  they  must  do  as  they 
are  told.  Otherwise  their  product  does  not  fit 
into  the  general  scheme  of  production.  Each 
workman's  piece  must  take  just  the  place  intended 
in  the  mechanism  or  his  labor  is  of  no  value.  Co- 
operation, then,  in  industrial  work,  which  is  the 
fundamental  method  of  the  factory  system,  must 
be  secured,  and  this  means  that  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  workers  must  carry  out  the  plan  of 
one  man  who  is  the  inventor  or  designer. 
Thousands  of  parts — even  millions — must  be 


THREE  TYPICAL  METHODS  OF  TEACHING  MANUAL  ARTS  in 

made  from  one  design.  The  power  to  read  a  blue- 
print is  needed  by  a  thousand  workers,  where  the 
power  to  design  a  piece  of  mechanism  is  needed 
by  only  one.  The  public  school  must  not  omit  the 
fundamental  preparation  for  the  man  who  must 
take  industrial  orders,  and  obey.  On  the  other 
hand  to  stop  with  training  to  obey  orders  is  to  fall 
short  of  training  for  American  citizenship.  While 
the  worker  must  have  the  ability  to  follow  direc- 
tions he  must  also,  within  his  personal  limitations, 
have  the  power  of  initiative.  He  should  have 
power  to  think  and  the  skill  to  do  things  outside 
of  the  limitations  of  a  routine  job — even  a  job  re- 
quiring skill. 

The  inventive  method  places  the  worker  in  a  re- 
lation to  his  work  that  is  entirely  different  from 
that  in  the  imitative  method.  It  places  him  in  the 
position  of  a  master,  of  a  person  with  authority 
and  power  to  control.  If  a  student  is  working 
from  a  blueprint  or  other  working  drawing  given 
him  by  the  teacher,  he  is  expected  to  follow  the 
drawing  exactly  in  material  and  form  and  dimen- 
sions. On  the  contrary,  if  he  has  designed  or  in- 
vented the  piece  he  is  making,  he  is  the  guiding 
force  in  the  work;  he  can  change  material  or  form 
or  dimension.  His  own  ideas  are  to  be  carried 
out,  not  those  of  some  other  man,  except,  of 
course,  as  he  takes  advice  from  the  teacher.  In 
this  method,  then,  the  teacher  is  more  an  inspirer, 
a  counselor,  than  a  boss  who  makes  demands. 


112  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

SUMMARY. 

Comparing  the  three  methods,  the  imitative  is 
the  most  elementary.  It  prepares  for  industry;  it 
is  economical.  The  discovery  method  is  good  in 
certain  places,  or  in  modified  form,  to  follow  the 
imitative.  Alone,  or  as  a  beginning  method,  it  is 
industrially  weak.  With  the  imitative  as  a  founda- 
tion it  is  good;  it  helps  to  make  foremen  and 
superintendents.  The  inventive  method,  also,  is 
valuable  after  the  imitative.  It  may  produce  in- 
ventors, designers,  architects.  It  is  sure  to  pro- 
duce initiators  instead  of  followers  and  mere 
obedient  servants.  Its  chief  weakness  is  that  it 
may  and  often  does  ignore  standards  of  construc- 
tion and  of  technic.  If  the  schools  are  to  produce 
American  citizens  with  (a)  skill,  (b)  initiative 
and  (c)  power  to  think  for  themselves — those 
who  can  follow  directions  efficiently  or  can  invent 
a  better  way,  all  three  of  these  methods  must  be 
employed  in  teaching  the  manual  arts  in  the 
schools. 


QUESTIONS 
CHAPTER  I 

These  questions,  based  on  the  text  of  this  book,  are  in- 
tended for  the  use  of  students,  members  of  reading  circles  and 
individual  readers.  Teachers,  also,  will  find  them  con- 
venient. 

I.    In  Colonial  times  was  the  motive  for  teaching  the  three 

R's  a  cultural  one  or  a  vocational  one? 
a.   What  led  to  the  establishment  of  schools  of  science  and 

engineering? 

3.  What   is    demanding    a    more    widespread    industrial 

intelligence  today? 

4.  What  manual  arts  should  be  taught  in  the  schools? 

5.  What  is  the  chief  function  of  that  section  of  the  manual 

arts  which  is  called  the  graphic  arts? 

6.  Indicate  the  social  significance  of  each  of  the  following 

groups  of  constructive  arts:     (a)  mechanic  arts;     (b) 
plastic  arts;      (c)  textile  arts;     (d)  book-making  arts. 

7.  Show  how  the  teaching  of  the  manual  arts  in  the  schools 

is  in  harmony  with  the  fundamental  aim  of  education. 

CHAPTER  II 

8.  Compare  the  educational  duality  of  function  in   the 

natural  sciences  and  the  manual  arts. 

9.  To  what  great  end  in  education  may  instruction  in  the 

manual  arts  effectively  contribute? 

IO.   In  what  special  way  do  the  manual  arts  contribute  to  the 
educative  process,  and  why  is  this  important? 


ii4  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

n.  What  school  of  educational  thought  has  emphasized  the 
value  of  handwork  as  a  method  in  teaching?  What 
school  the  value  of  handwork  as  a  subject? 

12.  Why  should  present-day  work  in  the  manual  arts  be 

regarded  as  both  subject  and  method? 

13.  What  should  be  the  leading  characteristics  of  the  manual 

arts  in  (a)  the  primary  grades,  (b)  the  grammar 
grades,  (c)  the  high  school? 

CHAPTER  III 

14.  What  is  the  differencf  between  knowing  a  product  of 

art  and  craftsmanship  and  knowing  about  it?  Which 
is  the  proper  basis  for  appreciation?  Give  illustra- 
tions. 

15.  What  three  elements  are  involved  in  the  development  of 

real  appreciation  of  products  of  art  and  craftsman- 
ship? 

16.  If  the  development  of  appreciation  is  one  of  the  aims  of 

teaching  the  manual  arts  in  public  schools,  what  do 
the  above-mentioned  three  elements  suggest  con- 
cerning manual  arts  instruction  and  methods  of 
teaching? 

CHAPTER  IV 

17.  To  what  extent  is  a  nation,  a  state,  or  a  city  justified  in 

spending  money  for  public  education? 

1 8.  What  evidences  are  there  that  Americans  do  not  yet 

properly  estimate  the  economic  value  of  education? 

19.  Show  how  that  increasing  vocational  training  need  not 

decrease  cultural  training. 

ao.  Give  a  specific  example  of  a  nation  accomplishing  a 
great  economic  purpose  thru  vocational  training. 


QUESTIONS  115 

CHAPTER  V 

21.  What  is  the  chief  difference  between  a  good  manual 

training  course  in  a  given  craft  or  trade — machinist's, 
for  example — and  a  vocational  training  course  in  the 
same  craft  or  trade? 

22.  Name  three  fundamental  considerations  in  selecting 

subject-matter  for  courses  in  manual  arts, whether  for 
vocational  or  general  educational  ends. 

23.  In  what  two  major  groups  of  occupations  are  found  the 

majority  of  the  male  population  of  the  United  States 
of  America? 

24.  What  is  meant  by  group  analysis  of  an  occupation, 

craft  or  trade? 

25.  What  evidence  may  be  gained  from  the  development  of 

the  modern  corporation  school  concerning  the  best 
way  to  organize  instruction  for  purposes  of  vocational 
training? 

CHAPTER  VI 

26.  What  serious  fundamental  difficulties  in  teaching  shop- 

work  called  forth  the  group  method  of  arranging  the 
subject-matter  of  a  course  of  ins  ruction?  Give 
specific  examples  of  some  of  these  difficulties 

27.  What  are  the  essentials  of  the  group  method? 

28.  How  does  the  group  method  solve  many  problems  arising 

because  of  the  individual  differences  among  pupils? 

CHAPTER  VII 

29.  What  is  the  essential  difference  between  a  successful 

productive  factory  school  and  a  commercial  factory? 

30.  Why  are  some  large  commercial  factories  teaching  their 

apprentices  in  non-productive  shops? 


n6  THE  MANUAL  ARTS 

31.  Give  briefly  the  essential  facts  concerning  the  productive 

factory  woodworking  shop  at  Bradley  Institute:  (i) 
equipment,  (2)  cost  system,  (3)  results  in  manufac- 
tured products,  (4)  organization  of  subject-matter, 
(5)  conclusions. 

CHAPTER  VIII 

32.  What  three  fundamental  methods  of  teaching  the  manual 

arts  have  developed  during  the  past  thirty  years? 
Describe  each. 

33.  Why  is  the  use  of  the  imitative  method  alone  unde- 

sirable? Why  the  discovery  alone?  Why  the  in- 
ventive alone? 

34.  Why  should  all  three  methods  be  employed  in  teaching 

the  manual  arts  in  public  schools? 

35.  Discuss  each  of  these  three  methods  briefly  with  refer- 

ence to  (a)  teaching  technic,  (b)  habit  formation,  (c) 
developing  power  to  think,  (d)  individual  differences 
in  pupils,  (e)  power  of  the  pupil  to  do  things  that  he 
has  not  been  directly  taught  to  do,  (f)  economy  in 
learning. 


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